Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday that a proposed cease-fire she wants Georgia to sign, with Russia, will protects Georgia’s interests despite concessions to Moscow.

On her way to Tbilisi with the document, Rice said the immediate goal is to get Russian combat forces out of Georgia and more difficult questions about the status of the country’s separatist regions and Russia’s presence there can be addressed later.

“The United States would never ask Georgia to sign onto something where its interests were not protected,” she said.

“This is not an agreement about the future of Abkhazia and the future of South Ossetia,” Rice said, referring to the two flashpoint areas. “This is about getting Russian troops out.”

Rice will be consulting with pro-Western Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili about details of the cease-fire, which will require Russia to withdraw its combat forces from Georgia but allows Russian peacekeepers to remain in South Ossetia and conduct limited patrols outside the region.

The draft document also does not commit Russia to respecting Georgia’s “territorial integrity” but rather refers to Georgian “independence” and “sovereignty”, meaning Moscow does not necessarily accept that South Ossetia and Abkhazia, are Georgian.

Meanwhile US President George W Bush’s decision to send Georgia support aboard US military aircraft and warships has turned the Ossetia conflict into an clear face-off between the Kremlin and Washington.
Commanders of Russia’s 58th Army on Friday morning still were delaying a planned evacuation of Gori, claiming the Georgian military was unprepared to guarantee security in the region.

Looting and attacks in Gori by Ossetian militia, in part in retaliation for damage inflicted by the Georgian army on the Ossetian city Tskhinvali, was a substantial threat to civil order, said Viacheslav Borisov, 58th Army commander.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili continued a media offensive on Thursday evening, accusing Russia of occupying one-third of Georgia, intending to annex Georgian territory.

In Warsaw, Poland agreed on Thursday to host part of a US anti-missile shield, capping more than a year of tough bargaining over a project that had infuriated Russia, despite assurances from Washington that the system is meant to counter missile threats from Iran, and is too small to undermine Russia’s nuclear deterrent.