Bush condemns ‘brutal’ Russian invasion

President Bush condemned Moscow for its “dramatic and brutal” invasion of Georgia, as Russian forces rolled deeper into Georgian territory and prompted fears of an all-out war.

At the United Nations, the threat of a Russian veto in the Security Council relegated the world body to the sidelines, while forces loyal to Moscow pushed within 35 miles of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.

Just days after embracing Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Olympics in Beijing, Mr. Bush was forced to condemn the invasion as an action “unacceptable in the 21st century,” and demand that Moscow accept an immediate peace agreement “as a first step toward solving this conflict.”

At an emergency Security Council meeting requested by Georgia, U.N. officials B. Lynn Pascoe and Edmond Mulet on Monday told the council that non-peacekeeping Russian airborne troops were entering Georgia from Abkhazia, and were not meeting any resistance while taking control of Georgia’s Senaki army base, council diplomats said on the condition of anonymity because it was a closed session.

“A full military invasion of Georgia is going on,” Georgian Ambassador Irakli Alasania told reporters after the meeting. “Now I think the Security Council has to act.”

Council diplomats said Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin was asked repeatedly whether it was Russia’s intention to topple Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili’s fledgling democratic government.

“We in Russia, we cannot see how we can do business with him,” Mr. Churkin said. “We make no secret of that.”

France also circulated a draft resolution Monday that would have the council call for “the immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities, and the complete withdrawal of Russian and Georgian forces to their positions prior to August 7.”

The council is expected to take up the proposal Tuesday.

Georgian officials said the invasion has effectively split their country in two and feared the Russians would bomb the civilian airport in Tbilisi.

Mr. Saakashvili said his country was essentially cut in half after Russian forces took Gori, a key city on the country’s main east-west highway.

Mr. Bush made his statement on the heels of an intense diplomatic effort to quell the violence.

U.S. State Department official Robert Wood on Monday said that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan have asked Moscow not to breach Georgian borders.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer accused Russia on Monday of using excessive force and violating Georgia’s sovereignty.

The Group of Seven leading industrialized nations asked Moscow to accept a cease-fire and mediation offers, while the European Union called for a halt to military actions.

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