Russia threatens Poland over pact with U.S.

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By Jon Ward

UPDATED:

A senior Russian military official on Friday threatened Poland for agreeing to a treaty with the U.S., as President Bush called on the Kremlin to stop "bullying" the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in Georgia's capital of Tsibili, persuaded Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to sign a treaty with Russia and then called on Russia to remove all of its military forces from the small country "immediately."

"With the signing of this accord, all Russian troops, and any paramilitary and irregular troops that entered with them must leave immediately," she said.

Meanwhile, Russian Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn said Poland's decision on Thursday to host a U.S.-backed missile defense system had made the former communist bloc country a "target" for Russian military action.

"By hosting these, Poland is making itself a target. This is 100 percent," said Gen. Nogovitsyn, according to wire service reports. "It becomes a target for attack. Such targets are destroyed as a first priority."

At the same time, the United States and Russian presidents tried to talk themselves back from the brink of a new Cold War or armed conflict, but continued to disagree about the Kremlin's actions in Georgia.

President Bush, in a statement from the White House, tried to find a proper balance between standing up for Georgia and keeping already tense relations with Russia from falling apart completely.

Mr. Bush vowed not to "cast aside" Georgia, and said Ms. Rice was in Tblisi "expressing America's wholehearted support for Georgia's democracy."

But he also said that supporting the tiny country does not necessarily have to mean losing a partnership with Russia, with whom the U.S. has sought to work on issues such as countering Iran's nuclear ambitions and building a missile defense system in Europe.