Biden heads to Georgia, US flashpoint with Russia

[July 22, 2009]  KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden rejected the Russian push for a sphere of influence over former Soviet nations, saying as he headed to Georgia on Wednesday that no nation could veto another country's choices.

It has been almost a year since Georgia's war with Russia turned the small nation on the far frontier of Europe into the epicenter of the simmering conflict between Moscow and the West. President Barack Obama's attempt to rebuild relations with Russia has raised concerns among some of Russia's East European neighbors that the U.S. might abandon their interests.

Biden has been attempting to assuage those concerns on a four-day trip to Ukraine and Georgia.

As Biden headed to Georgia on Wednesday, its government was taking steps to prevent more mass demonstrations by the opposition, generated in part by Georgia's defeat in the war.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's government was shaken this spring by mass street protests demanding his resignation. Ahead of Biden's arrival in the Georgian capital, police were removing dozens of metal cages the opposition had erected in front of the country's parliament to block traffic along Tbilisi's central street.

No arrests were reported, and no resistance from opposition activists was visible along leafy Rustaveli Avenue, which remained closed to vehicles after police set up portable metal fencing. The cages were meant to represent jails -- a sign, opponents say, of Saakashvili's increasing authoritarianism.

The vice president also will meet with leading members of the opposition who had taken part in the monthslong demonstrations. Political foes blame Saakashvili for the August war's disastrous results and accuse him of riding roughshod over democratic rights.

Saakashvili has said he tried to defend Georgia from Russian aggression, and he announced a series of political reforms Monday meant to address his critics' complaints that his administration was restricting rights.

After Georgia used military force to try to seize a breakaway region from Moscow-backed separatists in August, Russia sent tanks and warplanes deep into Georgian territory, crushing the country's army. The conflict ended hopes in the West that Russia, after recovering from the economic and social turmoil of the post-Soviet era, would become a docile, democratic member of the club of European nations.

Instead, Russia has tried to reclaim its historic role as an assertive regional power with global ambitions.

In a speech in Kiev, Ukraine, on Wednesday, Biden said: "As we reset the relationship with Russia, we reaffirm our commitment to an independent Ukraine, and we recognize no sphere of influence or no ability of any other nation to veto the choices an independent nation makes." He reiterated Washington's support for Ukraine's NATO membership, if Ukrainians decide to pursue that goal. Currently, more than half of the country is against it.

Biden also urged the feuding Ukrainian leaders to seek a compromise and concentrate on reforming a devastated economy. Biden met with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Tuesday and Wednesday.

During his two days of talks with Saakashvili and opposition leaders in Georgia, the vice president plans to demonstrate support for the loyal U.S. ally. The Russia-Georgia war capped years of increasing tensions between the West and Russia, a country key to U.S. and European efforts to halt the spread of nuclear weapons, battle terrorism and secure Europe's energy supplies.

Shortly after the Georgian war, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev declared that Moscow has a "zone of privileged interests" among former Soviet and Eastern European satellites. The U.S. and Europe have rejected sphere-of-influence geopolitics, which give great powers sway over their smaller neighbors. And they show no signs of backing down.

Neither do they seem willing to risk a confrontation with Russia on the issue.

The U.S. has pledged to support NATO membership for Georgia as well as Ukraine. But Germany and other European member states are skeptical.

Domestic support for NATO membership is significantly greater in Georgia than in Ukraine. Georgian Defense Minister David Sikharulidze told The Associated Press on Wednesday that entry into the alliance would be beneficial for NATO in peacekeeping missions in Kosovo and operations in Afghanistan. He said Russia "should not be allowed to kill these hopes.".

[Associated Press; By MARIA DANILOVA]

Associated Press writer Douglas Birch contributed to this report from Tbilisi, Georgia

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