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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Bush condemns 'bullying' Russia | Bush condemns 'bullying' Russia |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| US President George W Bush has accused Russia of "bullying and intimidation" in its relations with Georgia. | US President George W Bush has accused Russia of "bullying and intimidation" in its relations with Georgia. |
| Reiterating his strong support for Georgia, Mr Bush said Russia had to honour its pledge to withdraw its troops from its southern neighbour. | Reiterating his strong support for Georgia, Mr Bush said Russia had to honour its pledge to withdraw its troops from its southern neighbour. |
| He said a "contentious relationship" with the US and Europe was not in Russia's interests. | He said a "contentious relationship" with the US and Europe was not in Russia's interests. |
| Mr Bush spoke as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Tbilisi for talks with the Georgian president. | Mr Bush spoke as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Tbilisi for talks with the Georgian president. |
| Her trip - a show of US support - comes a week after fighting began between Russian and Georgian forces over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. | Her trip - a show of US support - comes a week after fighting began between Russian and Georgian forces over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. |
| Ms Rice will present President Mikhail Saakashvili with a ceasefire deal, but he has said he would need "a closer look" before signing. | |
| "Guarantor" of security | |
| In a statement at the White House, Mr Bush said he would keep in close contact with Ms Rice. | In a statement at the White House, Mr Bush said he would keep in close contact with Ms Rice. |
| "Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st Century," Mr Bush said. | "Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st Century," Mr Bush said. |
| "Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected." | |
| Three days after a ceasefire was brokered to end fighting between Russia and Georgia, Russian troops remain deep inside Georgian territory. | |
| Meanwhile, after talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the Russian response as "disproportionate". | |
| But Mr Medvedev said Russia was the "guarantor" of the interests and lives of those in South Ossetia and Georgia's other separatist region of Abkhazia. | |
| He said they trusted Russian troops, and that this had to be taken into account. |