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US vice president to meet with heads of ex-Soviet nations

US Vice President Dick Cheney was to depart yesterday on a four-nation tour to support US allies Georgia and Ukraine amid a chill in relations with Russia over its military conflict with Georgia.

Talks on energy and how to offset Russian oil dominance are also high on the agenda for the visit, which comes on the heels of a decision on Monday by EU leaders to freeze strategic partnership talks with Moscow until Russian troops withdraw from Georgia.

Cheney will be the highest ranking US official to visit Tbilisi since Russian tanks rolled in last month and fought a five-day war over the Moscow-backed rebel region of South Ossetia.

The White House led global condemnation of Russia’s subsequent decision to recognize the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, calling it “irresponsible,” but laid out no concrete retaliatory plans.

US President George W. Bush said last month that Moscow’s diplomatic gesture violated a French-brokered Aug. 12 ceasefire deal, and is reportedly mulling scrapping a US-Russia civilian nuclear cooperation pact.

Exacerbating international tensions, Russia has withdrawn some forces but left others deep inside Georgian territory, serving in what Moscow describes as a peacekeeping mission. Tbilisi has labeled them an occupying force.

Cheney will provide a “strong message of reassurance to our friends in the region,” his national security advisor John Hannah told reporters ahead of the trip, which includes stops in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Italy.

“The overriding priority, especially in Baku, Tbilisi and Kiev, will be the same: a clear and simple message that the United States has a deep and abiding interest in the well-being and security of this part of the world,” he said.

Cheney was scheduled to arrive in Baku today for talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and energy representatives. Azerbaijan saw some oil exports headed for the West via Georgia suspended last month because of the Russia-Georgia conflict.

The US vice president will then head to Tbilisi tomorrow for talks with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who came to power in 2004 and has led his country’s drive to join the EU and the NATO military alliance.

Proclaiming Georgia as a democratic ally, the US has sent air force planes and naval ships to bring humanitarian aid over the last three weeks, while it denies Moscow’s charges that aid shipments could be used to mask a naval buildup in the Black Sea. Bush has offered the country US$5.75 million in aid.

Cheney will then move on to Ukraine, which also harbors aspirations for EU and NATO membership, for talks with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Thursday and Friday.
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