Georgia, Tbilisi. A billboard depicting Georgian and US Presidents Mikhail Saakashvili and George W. Bush.
Photo: Dmitry Lebedev
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U.S. Worried about Russia-Georgia Conflict
The George W. Bush administration is worried that an armed conflict will flare up between Russia and Georgia, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said in Washington on Thursday. Acting U.S. Undersecretary of State Daniel Fried told a session of the Helsinki Committee in Washington that he does not believe that Russia wants a full-scale war, but "What we fear is that with so much tension, so many armed people in close proximity, and a record of provocations, that there could be a spark setting off a wider problem, and suddenly you're dealing with deaths and shooting and an out-of-control incident."
Fried continued that “We do not like the heated rhetoric that has come out of Russia. Sometimes Georgian rhetoric is hot as well. While we have urged restraint on Georgia, there is a difference between a very small vulnerable country and a very large country that we have to keep in mind. Even though we do counsel restraint on the Georgians, they are the vulnerable party and it is their territory that is under threat.”
Fried concluded by saying that the Bush administration supports Resolution No. 1166 of the House of Representatives condemning Russia’s “dangerous and provocative” actions, which was passed by a vote of 390 to 23.
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