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U.S. Vice President calls on Russia to withdraw troops from Georgia

23 July 2009 16:48 (UTC +04:00)

Bidenâ€™s assurances in visits to both countries bluntly addressed the most volatile issue dividing Russia and the West, and were offered just two weeks after President Barack Obama was in Moscow seeking to heal U.S.-Russia relations.
"As we reset the relationship with Russia, we reaffirm our commitment to an independent Ukraine, and we recognize no sphere of influence or no ability of any other nation to veto the choices an independent nation makes," Biden declared in Kiev, Ukraineâ€™s capital.
Bidenâ€™s comments underlined the U.S. commitment to encouraging Western-style democracies among former Soviet states, despite Russiaâ€™s open hostility to what it considers meddling in its back yard.
At a banquet in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on Wednesday evening, Biden said he wanted to send "an unequivocal, clear message to all who will listen and some who donâ€™t want to listen, that America stands with you and will continue to stand."
Russian troops crushed Georgiaâ€™s military in a brief war in Georgia last August, about five years after the countryâ€™s 2003 Rose Revolution brought President Mikhail Saakashvili to power and ousted a Soviet-era leader.
For weeks this spring, tens of thousands of Georgians jammed central Tbilisi demanding Saakashviliâ€™s resignation, accusing him of strengthening his power at the expense of democratic rights. Those protests gradually waned.
Hundreds of demonstrators who lined Bidenâ€™s route from the airport Wednesday waved flags and held signs saying "Donâ€™t Forget Us," sounding a note of defiance. One sign declared "No to occupation" â€“ a reference to the Russian troops stationed in two breakaway Georgian regions.