KIEV, Ukraine — Vice President Dick Cheney insisted that Georgia will join NATO on Thursday and backed its attempts to rebuild from its war with Russia, using a trip to former Soviet republics as a show of U.S. support for their pro-Western leaders.
Cheney flew to Kiev from Georgia, where he denounced Russia’s “illegitimate, unilateral attempt” to redraw the U.S. ally’s borders by force.
“Georgia will be in our alliance,” Cheney told reporters while standing alongside Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, whose pro-Western government has sought to join NATO despite Russian opposition.
Angry Russian officials have repeatedly said U.S. military aid was instrumental in emboldening Georgia to try to retake South Ossetia by force on Aug. 7. The attack sparked five days of fighting and resulted in Russian forces’ driving into South Ossetia and on into Georgia.
In Moscow, Konstantin Kosachyov, head of foreign affairs committee in the Kremlin-controlled lower house, accused Cheney of trying to forge an “anti-Russian axis.”
“It’s Cheney who was behind all recent events on the former Soviet turf,” Kosachyov said in televised remarks.
The vice president’s trip was intended as a signal that the U.S. will continue cultivating close ties with Georgia and its neighbors even after Russia showed it was willing to use military force against countries along its border.
Before Georgia, Cheney also stopped in oil-rich Azerbaijan.
There are concerns the Kremlin might next seek to squeeze Ukraine as it tries to reclaim dominance in the former Soviet Union. The strategically located country of 46 million has pipelines that carry Russian gas to European consumers and a Black Sea port that is home to a key Russian naval base.
On the eve of Cheney’s arrival, the White House announced a $1 billion commitment to help the small, strategically located nation recover from its war with Russia.
