Smash hit

Mr Medvedev made clear with angry and sometimes crude remarks that Moscow blamed Tbilisi for the violence and aimed to hammer home its advantage. Without mentioning President Saakashvili, Mr Medvedev said that Tbilisi had committed genocide and that its leaders should face punishment for “ethnic cleansing”. He said: “When crazy people smell blood, it’s impossible to stop them. You have to use surgery to stop them.”

He also accused the West of using double standards by supporting the independence of the Serbian province of Kosovo this year while protecting “bastards and terrorists” with talk about inviolable sovereignty.

Both Georgia and Russia said that they were planning to file complaints of “ethnic cleansing” against one another at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The Georgian Government again accused the Russians of massacre.

Last night, in a show of solidarity with Georgia, the leaders of five former communist countries appeared on stage in central Tbilisi and linked arms in front of tens of thousands of demonstrators.

Vladimir Putin's mastery checkmates the West

Michael Binyon says Russia has been biding its time - but its victory in Georgia has been brutal and brilliant

Multimedia

• Video: stories from the front line

• Pictures: Georgia conflict

BACKGROUND

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• Oleg Deripaska - oligarch at centre of storm

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Multimedia

• Video: Georgia ceasefire

Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian President, told the crowd: “You have the right to freedom and independence. We are here to demonstrate our solidarity . . . freedom is worth fighting for.” President Kaczynski of Poland said: “This country [Russia] seeks to restore its dominance, but the time of dominance is over.”

In Washington, conservatives said that the Russian invasion had inflicted profound damage on the goal of helping aspiring democracies in the Caucasus. Ariel Cohen, a senior research fellow at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, said that the Russian invasion was the West’s hour of truth. Russia, he said, had shown that it could sabotage American and EU efforts to integrate emerging democracies into Western structures such as Nato.

Mr Sarkozy, who had to juggle opposing views among fellow EU leaders, said that the priority was a ceasefire, not passing judgment. He also proposed EU peacekeepers if all sides wanted them. EU leaders were split last March over the US plan to offer Georgia Nato membership. Italy and Germany were opposed while Poland and the other former Soviet satellite states were in favour.

Mr Putin’s presence at the peace talks shows that he retains supreme power. His well-planned military operation underlined the West’s weakness in the face of Russia. It especially embarrassed the United States, which has strongly promoted Mr Saakashvili’s Government as a democratic model in Moscow’s back yard.

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