Putin Accuses U.S. In Georgia War

Russia PM Suspects War Linked To Presidential Campaign; White House Dismisses Claim As "Patently False"

(CBS/ AP)  Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Thursday of instigating the fighting in Georgia and said he suspects a connection to the U.S. presidential campaign - a contention the White House dismissed as "patently false."

In a decision he said was unrelated to unraveling Russia-U.S. ties, Putin also ordered that 19 American poultry producers be barred from selling their products to Russia. He said the unnamed companies ignored demands that they correct alleged deficiencies.

Putin, the former president and architect of an assertive foreign policy that has stoked East-West tension, suggested in an interview with CNN that there was an American presence amid the combat with a potential domestic U.S. political motive.

"We have serious grounds to think that there were U.S. citizens right in the combat zone" during Russia's war with the U.S.-allied ex-Soviet republic, he said the interview broadcast on state-run Russian television. "And if that's so, if that is confirmed, it's very bad. It's very dangerous."

Putin's acid attack on the United States came as Moscow's bid to redraw Georgia's borders hit an obstacle among its Asian allies who refused to recognize the two Russian-backed breakaway regions of Georgia. France, meanwhile, said the European Union is considering sanctions against Russia for its conduct in the Caucasus.

Putin said that Russia had hoped the U.S. would restrain Georgia, which Moscow accuses of starting the war by attacking South Ossetia on Aug. 7. Instead, he suggested the U.S. encouraged the nation's leadership to try to rein in the separatist region by force.

"The American side in fact armed and trained the Georgian army," Putin said. "Why hold years of difficult talks and seek complex compromise solutions in interethnic conflicts? It's easier to arm one side and push it into the murder of the other side, and it's over.

"It seems like an easy solution. In reality it turns out that it's not always so," he said.

The United States has close ties with the Georgian government and has trained Georgian units. The Pentagon has said that the U.S. had about 130 trainers in Georgia when the fighting erupted earlier this month, including a few dozen civilians who were all working to prepare the Georgian forces for deployment to Iraq.

But Russian officials have made statements aimed to convey the idea that Americans may have directly supported Georgia's offensive.

At a briefing Tuesday, the deputy chief of Russian military general staff, Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, showed off a color copy of what he said was a U.S. passport found in a basement in a village in South Ossetia among items that belonged to Georgian forces.

"We found a passport for Michael Lee White," Nogovitsyn said. "He's a Texan."

The U.S. Embassy in Georgia said it had no information on the matter.

In an interview with France 24 to be aired Friday, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said there were no American "commanders or even advisers" in the conflict zone. He said the conflict had nothing to do with the U.S., but "the aggression of the Russians."

Putin appeared to link claims of an American presence amid the combat with a potential domestic U.S. political motive.

"If my guesses are confirmed, then that raises the suspicion that somebody in the United States purposefully created this conflict with the aim of aggravating the situation and creating an advantage ... for one of the candidates in the battle for the post of U.S. president."

Putin did not name a party or candidate. Some pro-Kremlin Russian politicians have claimed U.S. Republicans hoped the war would help keep Democrat Barack Obama out of the White House by fomenting concern among voters over security, which some of the Russians consider to be a strong-suit of Republican candidate John McCain, a strong Kremlin critic.

White House press secretary Dana Perino called Putin's contentions "patently false." She said "it also sounds like his defense officials who said they believe this to be true are giving him really bad advice."

She added: "To suggest that the United States orchestrated this on behalf of a political candidate just sounds not rational."

Perino said Russia is facing the consequences of a diminished global reputation and that "there will be other" consequences as well. She refused to say what they would be and said there is no timetable.

At the United Nations Thursday, Russia was roundly criticized by member nations of the security council for recognizing the breakaway Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Even China, a frequent Russian ally on the council, joined several Central Asian nations in denouncing the use of violence and calling for the respect of every nation's territorial integrity. It was a blow to Russia's search for international support.

Moscow had appealed to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization - whose members are Russia, China, and four Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - for unanimous support of Moscow's response to Georgia's "aggression."

Alexei Malashenko, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said the summit highlighted Russia's isolation.

"The Soviet Union was not so alone even in 1968," he said on Ekho Moskvy radio, referring to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Western leaders have added condemnation of Russian recognition to their accusations that Moscow used disproportionate force in its Georgia offensive and has fallen far short of its withdrawal commitments under an EU cease-fire deal.

The EU is "trying to draw up a strong text signifying our unwillingness to accept" Russia's stance, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Thursday. "Sanctions are being considered ... and many other means as well," Kouchner said.

The Foreign Ministry said later that France was not behind a sanctions proposal.

The Russian leader maintained that the poultry decision was unrelated to the Georgia issue. He said that the 19 producers ignored the demands to correct the problems following inspections. He said another 29 producers would receive warnings.

"We try and keep our industry out of politics and into marketing opportunities, but sometimes it's very difficult to separate the two," said Jim Sumner, president of the U.S.A. Poultry & Egg Export Council. He said Russia is a major market for American producers.

U.S. producers supply nearly 75 percent of the total poultry import quota set by Russia, which stands at 1.2 million tons. Russia represented the largest export market for chicken broilers made by U.S. producers in the first half of this year, Sumner said.

Sumner said he expected the alleged plant deficiencies to be corrected within weeks or a few months and said the stoppage would not have a major impact on U.S. producers.

Russia is an important market for many poultry producers, including the nation's largest chicken producer, Pilgrim's Pride Inc., as well as Sanderson Farms Inc. and Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat company.

Shares of many meat producers, including top hog producer Smithfield Foods Inc., tumbled Thursday on worries about potential cuts by Russia.

"At this point if Russia were to walk back from certain agreements they have made, it would clearly delay any future aspirations they have of joining the World Trade Organization," said Sean Spicer, spokesman for U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab.

[timfitz42]

Oh yeah and Russia could recognize New Jersey as independent if they wanted ... that doesn''t make it so in anyone else''s eyes. Why don''t you listen to the global community for a change?

[timfitz42]

Polar_Bear3:
Was it the US that collapsed? Or the USSR? Just trying to figure out what "doom" it was that we escaped. As you lose more and more of your precious motherland to your own dissatisfied and oppressed people, you close the Navy bases that you USED to have all over the world. Even China thinks you''re off your rockers now. For a while it seemed Russia would become an ally, but you keep on trying to ressurect the cold war and alienate yourselves from the rest of the world. When you guys can finally decide who actually runs your country, the govt or the military, maybe you could hold onto a nuke for more than 10 minutes before a greedy general sells it to a third world country and we''d all relax a little.

I apologize if I offended and moderately minded Russians, I guess every country has it''s half-wits.

[samsel3]

The truth is, this is all about control of oil & gas pipelines. The BTC oil pipeline in South Ossetia & the Nabucco natural gas pipeline in NW Georgia supply markets in the European Union. In November 2003 the World Bank funded the BTC pipeline to circumvent Russian pipelines supplying europe.

Shareholders in the BTC pipeline are: British Petroleum, AzBTC, Chevron, Statoil, TPAO, ENI, Total, Itochu, INPEX, ConocoPhillips & Amerada Hess.
Russia is the second largest supplier of oil & gas on the planet.

After loosing Iraqi oil to Operation Iraqi Freedom, they negotiated supplies with Iran. The Russians were not happy with Cheneys BTC pipeline or the Caspian Sea Pipelines project going through Afghanistan. This threatens their economy based on oil & gas.

Again it''s the Bush administrations lust for money in World markets for their BIG OIL buddies.

[polar_bear3]

assessing your comments I''m very content to state that some of u ordinary Americans have a bit of sanity to understand that ur insane breadhead president went to far. u people intruded and violated the sacred thing of ours,THE HOLLY RUSSIAN MOTHER LAND.The land of our fathers and our blood brothers in Caucasus.I''m glad that your generals had enough brain to stop your doomed circus in millimeters from the abyss, a grave for them and your imbecile,vile scoundrel Bush little.I''m not KGB fellar,I''m Russian man who lived among u western society long time & learned a lot about ur niggling interests towards my country & ur total cowardness as a common character trait for anglo saxon race.u Americans brave only in ur movies and capable to gibberish and snivel in reality,nothing else.So back off and keep ur dirty femalish hands away from my land and my people. Russia is rejuvenating and getting back it%u2019s omnipotence and imperiousness.nobody & nothing will stop it.Read a history u pupils and stop threatening us with your bluffing worthless sanctions. Russia was, is and will be opulent and wealthy powerful land ruling half of the world%u2026
For some smarta$#@ss users. Russia ain%u2019t a world police dumntruck as US, we don%u2019t need navy bases all over the world, but if US won%u2019t stop playing this silly game, we will think how to neutralize it. Finally, Remember where your glorious space shuttles will end up in 1 year hunnies%u2026.all the best

[minnick8-2009]

Saddam said in an interview after his capture he never had WMDs. It was all a ploy to intimidate and contain Iran.

Posted by Displeased

Of course that is what Saddam said, like i would believe that wicked, filthy dictator.

[edintex]

On 23 July 2008, President Bush Provoked this Russian Invasion of Georgia by announcing the decision to place Missile-Defense systems in Eastern Europe...blah blah blahhh.....Posted by lovegetpeace at 11:52 AM : Aug 29, 2008

I guess if the U.S. were really so bad we would have invaded Cuba withing HOURS of them announcing that Russian bombers would be based on their island. Maybe its still not too late to act!!!

Maybe the U.S. could take Cuba and keep a few Russian bombers as "trophies" just like the Russians did with U.S. hummers they stole in Georgia.

[edintex]

Military/security/death is the new American export.
Posted by gce65 at 07:16 PM : Aug 29, 2008

WOW, I''m suprised that your building power stayed on long enough for you to use your computer to bash the U.S. for so long....COMRADE. Ohhh, you must have one of those new "wind up" computers now.

Do you Ruskies even have indoor plumbing in your buildings yet...COMRADE?

[gce65]

Ever wonder what''s REALLY going on in the Russia/Georgia conflict?

You won''t find any explanations in the US media. Try Asia Times Aug 30. Pretty good explanation of who supports whom--not as described in US media.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JH30Ag02.html

[gce65]

Pretty sad when the Kremlin speaks the truth and our own country lies to us and everyone else.

[gce65]

"The United States has close ties with the Georgian government and has trained Georgian units. The Pentagon has said that the U.S. had about 130 trainers in Georgia when the fighting erupted earlier this month, including a few dozen civilians who were all working to prepare the Georgian forces for deployment to Iraq."

Come on. Is it such a stretch of the imagination to think that these same military advisors and trainers are private defense contractors like Blackwater, Dyncorp and the dozens of other professional mercenary groups that function around the world?

Military/security/death is the new American export.

[gce65]

Unfortunately, the US government--especially under Bush/Cheney--is not credible.
Look at the pattern of "Bush speak:"
WMD in Iraq = none there
Yellow cake uranium = none there
No idea about the Plame/CIA leak = we did it
And so on, and so on, and so on...

So, "The Russian claim is patently false" means it''s probably pretty close to exactly what happened in Georgia.

[erasmus81]

Don''''t mess with erasmus81 or I go over there and I will sit on you!

Posted by MNBrant at 05:27 AM : Aug 29, 2008

That was nice. Thank you.:)

[whiskyrokkr]

commie ba$tards

[underdogus87]

%u043F%u0440%u0438%u0437%u043D%u0430%u043D%u0438%u0435%u043C %u0410%u0431%u0445%u0430%u0437%u0438%u0438 %u0438 %u042E%u0436%u043D%u043E%u0439 %u041E%u0441%u0435%u0442%u0438%u0438, %u0437%u0430%u044F%u0432%u0438%u043B %u0437%u0430%u043C%u0435%u0441%u0442%u0438%u0442%u0435%u043B%u044C %u043C%u0438%u043D%u0438%u0441%u0442%u0440%u0430 %u0438%u043D%u043E%u0441%u0442%u0440%u0430%u043D%u043D%u044B%u0445 %u0434%u0435%u043B %u0413%u0440%u0443%u0437%u0438%u0438 %u0413%u0440%u0438%u0433%u043E%u043B %u0412%u0430%u0448%u0430%u0434%u0437%u0435. %u0420%u043E%u0441%u0441%u0438%u044F, %u0441%u043A%u043E%u0440%u0435%u0435 %u0432%u0441%u0435%u0433%u043E, %u0432 %u043A%u0430%u0447%u0435%u0441%u0442%u0432%u0435 %u043E%u0442%u0432%u0435%u0442%u043D%u043E%u0439 %u043C%u0435%u0440%u044B %u0437%u0430%u043A%u0440%u043E%u0435%u0442!!!!

[roughtimes]

lovegetpeace: its been in the works before the war that China would get oil from them...Russia and China are in a close relationship now...just keep pushing things the way the democrats want and things will be much worse than they are now...I thin Putin likes Chavez, also....so maybe, we do have enemies???? Just bring the Love Train Democratic Convention folks to protect you...good luck! It does seem like Putin likes Obama a lot!

[lovegetpeace]

On 23 July 2008, President Bush Provoked this Russian Invasion of Georgia by announcing the decision to place Missile-Defense systems in Eastern Europe in order to bring Fears into the Living Rooms of the now world famous Idiot Americans. Fear is the only chance Republicans have to win the White House on November 2008.

Finally, we now know the ''October Surprise'' we all have been anticipating from only Bush.

[lovegetpeace]

On 23 July 2008, President Bush Provoked this crisis with Russia by announcing the decision to place Missile-Defense systems in Eastern Europe in order to bring Fears into the Living Rooms of the world famous Idiot Americans. This is the now only chance Republicans have to win the White House on November 2008.

Finally, we now know the ''''October Surprise'''' we all been anticipating from only Bush.

[lovegetpeace]

Folks,
This is just Fresh out of my local Public Broadcasting System (PBS) radio station, IRAQ JUST SIGNED A $3 BILLIONS DEAL WITH CHINA TO DEVELOP IT OIL INFRASTRUCTURE and eventually sell oil only to China.

Americans are out of the picture. What the hell happened NeoCons?

[lovegetpeace]

Folks,
This is just Fresh out of my local Public Broadcasting System (PBS) radio station, IRAQ JUST SIGNED A $3 Billion deal with China to develop it Oil Infrastructure and eventually sell oil only to China.

Americans are out of the picture with regard to oil windfalls.

[lovegetpeace]

Folks,
This is just Fresh out of Public Broadcasting System (PBS), Iraq just signed a $3 Billion deal with China to develop it Oil Infrastructure and eventually sell oil only to China.

Americans are out of the picture with regard to oil windfalls.