Vice President Dick Cheney renewed America's determination to bring Georgia into Nato today as he condemned Russia's "illegitimate" invasion of the Caucasus republic.

Mr Cheney said that it was the responsibility of the free world to "rally to the side of Georgia" against Russian aggression as he arrived in the capital Tbilisi to show support for President Mikheil Saakashvili.

He told Mr Saakashvili that the United States was "fully committed" to Georgia's membership of Nato, a policy that has infuriated Russia. Nato members will meet in December to consider applications from Georgia and Ukraine, which Mr Cheney will visit later today.

"Georgia will be in our alliance," Mr Cheney said after travelling to Tbilisi from Azerbaijan, where he held talks with President Ilham Aliev. Georgia and Azerbaijan are vital to Western hopes of reducing dependence on Russian energy by piping oil and gas from Central Asia through the Caucasus.

"America will do its duty to work with the governments of Georgia and our other friends and allies to protect our common interests and to uphold our values," Mr Cheney told journalists with Mr Saakashvili at his side.

"Russia's actions have cast grave doubts on Russia's intentions and on its reliability as an international partner."

The White House announced a $1 billion aid package to help Georgia recover from the war with Russia before the Vice President's arrival. Mr Cheney told Mr Saakashvili that the US would stand by its ally "as you work to overcome an invasion of your sovereign territory and an illegitimate, unilateral attempt to change your country's borders by force, that has been universally condemned by the free world".

He thanked Georgia for sending 2,000 troops to join the US-led coalition in Iraq, making it the third largest contributor of forces. Mr Cheney added: "Now it is the responsibility of the free world to rally to the side of Georgia."

Russia's President Dmitri Medvedev has asserted Moscow's "privileged interests" in the Caucasus and accused the US of helping Georgia to "build its war machine".

But the Kremlin failed to win backing today from a group of former Soviet republics for its decision to recognise the independence of Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Only Nicaragua has supported Russia so far.

Defence ministers in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) criticised Georgian military actions but held back from endorsing Russia's decision after a meeting in Moscow. The CSTO, currently chaired by Armenia, includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Mr Cheney will travel from Georgia to Ukraine, which edged closer to parliamentary elections today after the sudden collapse of the pro-Western alliance between President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko.

The fresh political turmoil threatens to cast a shadow over Ukraine's bid to join Nato. Mr Cheney is due to meet President Yushchenko amid fears in Ukraine that the Kremlin will attempt to scupper its Nato ambitions by stirring separatist tensions in the pro-Russian Crimea region.

Russia's Black Sea fleet is based at the Crimean port of Sevastopol. A member of Ukraine's pro-Russian opposition Party of Regions submitted a resolution to parliament today calling for the foreign minister to be sacked over the "illegal" presence of US warships in the Black Sea.

Mr Yushchenko's party, Our Ukraine, walked out of the coalition government with the Tymoshenko Bloc yesterday in protest at new legislation restricting the powers of the presidency. The President has threatened to call a snap election if a new coalition is not formed within 30 days.

The crisis in Georgia has contributed to the collapse of Ukraine's pro-Western government, which formed only nine months ago after Mrs Tymoshenko and her allies won a narrow victory in elections last September. Mr Yushchenko accused her of "high treason" in allegedly siding with Russia over the war, an allegation she denied. However, her party refused this week to back a motion from Our Ukraine that condemned Russia. Mr Yushchenko openly supported Georgia and told The Times last month that Nato membership was "the only way for our country to protect our national security and sovereignty".

Mrs Tymoshenko is riding high in opinion polls, while the president's rating is in single figures. Her party blamed Mr Yushchenko for the crisis, saying it was a bid to damage her ahead of the presidential election in late 2009.

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