Russia must leave Georgia immediately: Rice
Says President Saakashvili signed ceasefire deal
All Russian forces and irregular units with them must leave Georgia "immediately" following Georgia's signature of a peace deal, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said here Friday.
"With the signing of this accord, all Russian troops, and any paramilitary and irregular troops that entered with them must leave immediately," Rice said after Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili signed a ceasefire deal.
"Russian forces need to leave Georgia at once," she said. "This is no longer 1968," she said.
"The Russian attack on Georgia had profound implications and will have profound implications for its relations with its neighbors and the world," she said.
Poland-US deal
Warsaw and Washington signed a preliminary deal on basing part of a U.S. missile shield in Poland, in the face of mounting East-West tensions over Georgia.
Interfax news agency quoted a foreign ministry source as saying on Friday that the timing of a the missile defense deal announced amid the crisis in Georgia indicates the system is aimed at Russia.
"In reality this project has no relation to the Iranian missile threat but is aimed against Russia," Interfax quoted the senior ministry source, who it did not identify, as saying.
U.S. and Polish negotiators inked the accord in a ceremony after two days of talks in the Polish capital.
"This is an important agreement for the security of the United States, for the security of Poland and the security of our NATO allies," chief U.S. negotiator John Rood told reporters.
Washington plans to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland plus a radar facility in the neighboring Czech Republic by 2011-2013 to complete a system already in place in the United States, Greenland and Britain.
Washington insists the shield, which was endorsed by all 26 NATO member states earlier this year, is to fend off potential missile attacks by "rogue states," notably Iran.
The plan has become a major source of tension with Moscow. It considers it a security threat designed to undermine Russia's nuclear deterrent, and has vowed a firm response if the Czechs and Poles go ahead.