Georgia signs: Georgia’s president begrudgingly signed a truce with Russia on Friday. Even as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stood with Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili in a show of solidarity, he asked: “Who invited the trouble here? . . . Who invited these innocent deaths here?” He was shaky and near tears after a difficult, nearly five-hour meeting with Rice.
• Russia’s response: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s press office had no information Friday night on whether he had signed the cease-fire pact. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Russia was apt to sign it Saturday.
• U.S. response: “The Cold War is over. The days of satellite states and spheres of influence are behind us,” President Bush said at the White House. “A contentious relationship with Russia is not in America’s interest, and a contentious relationship with America is not in Russia’s interest.” Rice said the time had come “to begin a discussion of the consequences of what Russia has done. This calls into question what role Russia really plans to play in international politics.”
• What the cease-fire says: The document sets out no specific penalties or deadlines. It contains concessions to Russia that the Georgian president found hard to swallow. Russia could retain peacekeeping forces in the separatist region of South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia. The Associated Press
