Georgia asks Biden for weapons; US won't commit

[July 23, 2009]  TBILISI, Georgia (AP) -- Georgia's president asked U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday for advanced U.S. weaponry, military aid and unarmed observers to monitor a cease-fire along the boundaries of two Moscow-backed breakaway regions, a senior U.S. official said.

Biden made no promises of any U.S. military assistance, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Georgia specifically asked for anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, he said.

Russia strongly opposes any rearmament of Georgia and reiterated Thursday in Moscow that it would reduce or halt military cooperation with any country supplying Russian arms to Georgia, an apparent threat to Ukraine.

Biden emphasized to President Mikhail Saakashvili that military force should not be used to retake control of the two breakaway regions at the center of last year's war with Russia, and warned against taking any actions that could provoke a Russian military response, the official said.

The vice president knows Saakashvili well and felt "comfortable speaking very bluntly with him," the official said.

Biden also planned to speak later to parliament, where he was expected to affirm the United States' support for Georgia while stressing the need for further democratic reforms.

Before their talks Thursday, Saakashvili said he and Biden had spoken informally Wednesday night at a dinner in the $40 million presidential compound's glass-domed dining room.

"I told you there was no such thing as a free dinner in Georgia," Saakashvili told Biden, an apparent reference to Georgia's requests for expanded military assistance.

The smiling Georgian leader, who referred to Biden as "Joe," called the discussions "very productive."

Biden seemed more reserved, calling Saakashvili "Mr. President." While citing U.S.-Georgia ties, he also expressed support for political reforms that Saakashvili announced earlier in the week to counter claims he has turned authoritarian.

"We're here to talk about your security, economy, your democracy and the steps you are taking for solidifying your democracy," he told Saakashvili.

Biden later spoke privately with major opposition leaders, including two of Saakashvili's chief rivals: Irakli Alasania, Georgia's former ambassador to the U.N., and Nino Burdzhanadze, former speaker of parliament.

The White House has avoided making any public commitment on aid, arms or observers, although it says it stands behind Georgia's application for NATO membership despite determined opposition from Russia.

The U.S. gave Georgia $1 billion in aid shortly after Russia defeated Georgia in a short war last August. But Washington has so far not supplied the Georgian military with arms to replace those lost in the war, amid warnings from Moscow that such a step would raise the risk of another conflict.

A spokesman for the Georgian Defense Ministry, David Nardaya, described the weapons being requested as defensive.

In Moscow, the government said it would not stand by while Georgia was resupplied with weapons.

"We will continue inhibiting rearmament of the Saakashvili regime and are taking concrete measures for this," Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Ukraine supplied weapons to Georgia during last summer's conflict with Russia, and Belarus has expressed support for Georgia's claims to two Russian-backed breakaway regions at the center of last year's war. Both former Soviet republics have military ties with Russia.

Biden is on a four-day mission to Ukraine and Georgia to demonstrate U.S. support for the two countries, where Western-style democracies have struggled in the wake of peaceful revolutions and Russia's determination to have influence over former Soviet republics.

But Biden's message so far has been that the Obama administration's goal of restoring cordial relations with the Kremlin will not come at the price of weakening support for democratic allies in the region. Nor will the U.S. recognize Moscow's claim to an exclusive sphere of influence among former Soviet states, he said.

But the U.S. vice president also urged the leaders of Ukraine and Georgia to heal divisions among pro-Western political factions that in Ukraine have crippled the government and that in Georgia led to weeks of anti-government street protests.

Before Biden arrived on Wednesday, Saakashvili announced a series of political reforms, including making the mayor of Tbilisi, the capital, an elective post.

But hundreds of Georgian police also removed dozens of metal cages that protesters erected in front of parliament to block traffic along Tbilisi's central street. The mock jail cells were meant to symbolize what opponents say is Saakashvili's authoritarian rule.

[Associated Press; By DOUGLAS BIRCH]

Associated Press writer Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili contributed to this report.

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