Video: US aid flights arrive in Georgia

Russian and Georgian troops came close to a fire-fight today as a tense stand-off developed over the continued occupation of the strategic city of Gori.

As the first US humanitarian aid arrived in Georgia, Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, met President Sarkozy of France in his summer residence on the Riviera to launch her diplomatic mission. She is due to fly into Tbilisi tomorrow, spearheading a high-profile US campaign designed to underline US support for Georgia.

On the ground, Russian tanks and troops remained at checkpoints blocking the road into Gori and showed no sign of handing it back to the Georgian authorities despite an earlier pledge to do so. Georgian police had been reported as taking back responsibility for patrolling Gori, but this has proved to be premature.

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Alexander Lomaia, secretary of Georgia's National Security Commission, said that the Russian troops were refusing to leave today, despite a previous agreement to do so, and said that they would not withdraw from Gori until at least tomorrow.

"We have to agree on the gradual deployment of troops and police in Gori. But there are mutual suspicions," Mr Lomaia said before entering Gori with a Russian commander to continue negotiations.

"They suspect that the forces we are deploying are not police forces. The separatists are trying to intervene and meddle in the situation. It is quite tense and the ceasefire is quite fragile here.

"They promise to leave tomorrow. We have many reaaons not to believe them but we try to help them to stick to what they have said."

Fighters from South Ossetia are reportedly reluctant to surrender control of Gori to the Georgians and to retreat behind the border of their breakaway region. Irregulars among the South Ossetians were also continuing to steal cars belonging to Georgians, though one was returned later by a Russian officer.

A Georgian interior ministry spokesman said that Russian forces were "destroying" Gori, about 50 miles north west of Tbilisi. Red-faced with anger, the Russian commander berated the international media at the checkpoint for reporting this claim, saying: "Do you see the city? Is it destroyed? We have not done anything."

Fields were on fire outside villages close to Gori, however, and a plume of black smoke rose from behind a hill after an explosion. Journalists were prevented from entering Gori at the checkpoint and a soldier fired shots in the air to drive them away shortly before a series of explosions was heard.

The ceasefire came within a hair's breadth of being broken when a convoy of 20 pick-up trucks carrying heavily-armed Georgian troops approached the Russian checkpoint, apparently expecting the Russians to be withdrawing. Eyewitnesses said that the two sides drew weapons and confronted each other for several minutes until the Georgians retreated after Russian soldiers called up tank support.

The Times witnessed at least seven Russian tanks and armoured personnel carriers blocking the route into Gori, with soldiers pointing weapons towards Georgian troops about 500 metres away. Thousands of Georgian troops were stationed along the route from Gori to Tbilisi and police had sealed off the road outside the capital to ordinary traffic.

A defence attache from a Western embassy was also on the scene to assess military developments. Asked whether Georgia had given advance warning to his and other governments about the decision to invade South Ossetia, he replied: "I don't think any of us were told because if we had been we would have told them they were on their own."

In his first major statement on the crisis, President Bush demanded yesterday that Russia respect the ceasefire accord brokered by President Sarkozy of France, under which both sides must retire to their positions before fighting erupted last Thursday night.

He also announced large-scale humanitarian assistance to be led by the US military - the first US aid flight has already landed - and said that he was sending Dr Rice to Georgia to help secure peace.

“The United States of America stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia, insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected,” Mr Bush said in a statement at the White House.

He scolded Moscow for its attacks on Georgia, and warned it had put Russia’s post-Cold War relations with the West “at risk".

“To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe, and other nations, and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis,” he declared.

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