Rice flies in to Tbilisi as Kremlin shatters Georgia truce

The warning from U.S. defence secretary Robert Gates came as Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice arrived in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi to hand a formal ceasefire agreement to the country's embattled president, Mikhail Saakashvili, in a show of US support for Georgia in the face of Russia's military advance into its territory.

Moscow yesterday declared the West ‘can forget about’ Georgia getting back its two separatist provinces.

Advance: Russian soldiers pass an orthodox cathedral in Gori yesterday

Yesterday Russian president Dmitry Medvedev met the two separatist leaders in the Kremlin – a clear sign that Moscow is considering absorbing South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Diplomacy: French President Nicolas Sarkozy talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before their meeting yesterday in France

‘One can forget about any talk about Georgia’s territorial integrity because, I believe, it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state,’ said Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.

Such a move would breach the peace agreement negotiated by French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

That called for all sides to return to the borders that existed before the conflict began a week ago.

The latest diplomatic move comes amid reports that Russian troops were continuing to block access to the strategically key city of Gori, raising doubts about whether Russia was prepared to honour an agreement to pull its forces back.

The city is on Georgia's main eastwest road, and the Russian presence effectively cuts the country in two.

Tensions between the two sides remained high today as Georgian officials accused Russia of sending tanks and other armoured vehicles to within 35 miles of Kutaisi, Georgia's second largest city. The US and Georgia's American ambassador accused Russia of waging a "scorched earth" policy in Georgia, claiming that it had sent tank columns to search out and destroy Georgian military equipment.

Ms Rice was expected in Tbilisi to present Mr Saakashvili with the ceasefire agreement, which she was given by French president Nicolas Sarkozy when they met at his summer home in the south of France.

She said that both the US and France strongly backed Georgia's territorial integrity and accused Russia of failing to respect the ceasefire. "Georgia, whose territorial integrity, independenceand sovereignty we fully respect, must be able to go back to normal life," she said.

Damage: A disabled Ossetian man cycles a wheelchair past a destroyed Georgian tank in Tskhinval yesterday

George Bush, who has vowed to stand by Georgia, has insisted that its territory should be respected and the ceasefire honoured.

Mr Sarkozy, who negotiated the deal on behalf of the European Union, urged both sides "to consolidate the cessation of hostilities and accelerate the withdrawal of Russian forces to their positions prior to 7 August".

Under the ceasefire agreement, Russian forces are to pull back to the positions they held before the fighting that broke out a week ago in the separatist Georgian region of South Ossetia, and which saw Russian forces enter Georgia itself.

Mr Gates was adamant that Russia’s actions in Georgia would have a lasting effect on relations with Washington.

‘If Russia does not step back from its aggressive posture and actions in Georgia, the U.S.-Russian relationship could be adversely affected for years to come,’ the U.S. defence secretary said in the Pentagon.

He insisted he did not want a return to the Cold War between the two nuclear powers.

Defence: Georgian troops outside capital Tblisi on the main road to Gori

But Russia’s actions in the coming days and months would help ‘determine the future course’ of the superpowers’ relationship.

There must be ‘ consequences’ if Russia does not hold to the ceasefire it has promised.

He said Russia had taken advantage of last week’s violence in the Caucasus to send a blunt warning to Georgia and other former Soviet states not to get too close to the West.

Russian forces have taken control of the strategic town of Gori and Black Sea port of Poti.

As tensions rose between East and West, Poland finally agreed to host elements of a U.S. global anti-missile system on its territory.

Washington had improved the terms of the deal in the wake of the Georgian crisis.

The deal is bound to further inflame tensions between Washington and Moscow, which opposes the stationing of American missiles close to its European border.

Support: A rally in Vilnius, where Lithuanians recalling the Soviet occupation of their country in 1938, call for Russia to leave Georgia

Yesterday Mr Gates, under orders from Mr Bush, organised large-scale humanitarian assistance while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spearheaded diplomatic efforts to find a settlement in Georgia.

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev vowed to act as ‘protector’ to Georgia’s two breakaway regions when he met the leaders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the Kremlin.

‘You have defended your territory,’ he told them. ‘The truth was on your side. That is why you have been victorious.

‘The people of South Ossetia suffered genocide and it will take years, maybe decades, for these wounds to be healed.’

Yesterday a TV journalist was shot by a sniper as she reported live from Gori.

Tamara Urushadze, 32, took a bullet to her left arm but insisted on continuing with her report as other journalists and aid workers dashed for cover.

Gori has become a deadly ‘sniper’s alley’ with civilians at the mercy of rampaging militiamen – believed to be from the breakaway republic South Ossetia – looting and firing guns.

See our video below of Georgian troops preparing to face the Russians on the road to Gori...