U.S. backs Georgian territorial integrity

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States pledged its support for the territorial integrity of Georgia on Friday, as the staunch U.S. ally and former Soviet state battled to get control of a rebel enclave backed by Russian forces.

The White House and State Department urged an immediate cease-fire in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, and U.S. officials said they would send an envoy to mediate in the conflict in the Caucasus country.

But Washington stopped short of condemning the Russians for escalating the crisis by sending troops into a pro-Western country that wants to join NATO.

President George W. Bush, who has called Georgia a "beacon of democracy" in a volatile region, sent Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Tbilisi last month partly to encourage a peaceful resolution of its dispute with Russia.

"The United States supports Georgia's territorial integrity and we call for an immediate cease-fire," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement in Beijing, where Bush was attending the Olympics.

"We urge all parties, Georgians, South Ossetians and Russians, to de-escalate the tension and avoid conflict."

Moscow said its troops were responding to a Georgian assault to retake South Ossetia. As fighting raged in and around the region's capital of Tskhinvali, Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili, a U.S.-trained lawyer, said Russia and Georgia were at war.

Georgia, which hosts oil pipelines from the Caspian Sea to world markets, is at the centre of a battle for influence between the United States and Russia in the Caucasus.