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Georgia offers ceasefire as fighting continues
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-11 09:42

Russian soldiers atop their armoured personnel carrier roll through the South Ossetian settlement of Dzhava August 10, 2008. [Agencies] 

The conflict alarmed the West, which views Georgia as a valuable, if volatile, ally because of its strategic location on an energy transit route carrying oil from the Caspian to Europe.

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Saakashvili appeared smiling but disheveled to meet Kouchner, before showing him the night-time view of Tbilisi from a hillside.

"It is the most surreal world crisis I could ever imagine," the Georgian leader told reporters.

French President to Visit Moscow

The office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, current holder of the European Union's rotating presidency, said he would also visit Moscow in the next few days.

The French leader has produced a peace plan focusing on both sides pulling back to areas they held before the hostilities.

At the UN, Moscow and Washington traded barbs in the Security Council.

US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad suggested Russia was seeking "regime change" by saying Saakashvili should leave office while Russian envoy Vitaly Churkin obliquely suggested some leaders became "obstacles" to their people.

The United States said any further Russian escalation of the conflict could have a "significant, long-term impact" on relations and called on Russia and Georgia to cease hostilities and return to their pre-conflict positions.

Russia President Dmitry Medvedev said Georgia must withdraw from South Ossetia and formally pledge not to attack the region.

Meanwhile, fighting continued. A reporter in the town of Gori, just south of South Ossetia, reported heavy bombardment of areas around Tskhinvali on Sunday evening, although it was not clear who was firing.

Russian planes again bombed the Tbilisi military airport and a nearby aviation plant.

The Russian defense ministry on Sunday denied reports that its air force bombed the international airport of Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, saying they were mere "provocative propaganda" by Georgian authorities.

It was "disinformation" distributed by Georgia to delude the international community about events in South Ossetia, Interfax news agency quoted a Russian defense ministry spokesman as saying.