US warns Russia over impact of Georgian invasion

The fighting in Georgia tonight threatened to bring relations between Russia and America to a new low as the two superpowers exchanged insults and threats.

Russia continued to move forces around Georgia and announced it was considering permanently annexing the separatist provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The White House dismissed the comments as “bluster” and repeated its demands for Moscow to obey the terms of a cease-fire and pull its troops out of the area.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned that Russia’s actions could harm relations “for years to come”.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had declared the world “can forget about” Georgia getting back its two provinces as President Dmitry Medvedev met the leaders of both – a clear sign Russia is considering absorbing them.

The Russian refusal to withdraw from Georgia and the comments from Moscow present a challenge to the EU-sponsored cease-fire agreement designed to end seven days of fighting.

“One can forget about any talk about Georgia’s territorial integrity because, I believe, it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state,” Mr Lavrov said.

In Washington Mr Gates said that if Russia does not step back from “its aggressive posture”, relations with the US will suffer gravely.

Mr Gates said the Bush administration last year started talks with Russian that officials hoped would be a long-term strategic dialogue. But Russia’s invasion of Georgia has called that into question.

Meanwhile US relief planes flew into the Georgian capital of Tbilisi with tons of supplies for the estimated 100,000 people uprooted by the fighting, prompting Russia’s deputy chief of General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn to say he was not sure that the planes carried only humanitarian cargo. “It causes our concern,” he said.

Russian forces were still in the city of Gori which lies on Georgia’s main east-west road only 60 miles west of Tbilisi.

Troops appeared in several other sections of Georgia including around Poti, a Black Sea port city with a key oil terminal.

Georgia’s coast guard said the troops moved in yesterday and burned four Georgian patrol boats, then returned today to loot and destroy the coast guard’s radar and other equipment.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued another urgent call to Russia to honour the cease-fire as she was taking the formal agreement to Tbilisi to have it signed by the Georgian president.

French President Nicholas Sarkozy said the documents were “intended to consolidate the cease-fire”.

Ms Rice, in Europe as part of an emergency diplomatic mission, met Mr Sarkozy before she heading to the Georgian capital tomorrow.

“The United States of America stands strongly, as the president of France just said, for the territorial integrity of Georgia,” she said. “This is a member state of the United Nations and its internationally recognised borders need to be respected.

“The provisional cease-fire must go into place,” she said.