Putin Blasts The Unted States; Cheney Calls Saakashvili

Vladimir Putin, now Russia's prime minister lashed out at the US for airlfiting Georgia troops from Iraq. ”It’s a shame that some of our partners are not helping us, and are trying to interfere,” he said. ”I am talking about US military planes airlifting the Georgian military contingent from Iraq practically into the conflict zone.”

”I am suprised by the extent of this cynicism, the ability to pass off white as black and black as white. The ability to present the aggressor as a victim of aggression and to lay the responsibility for the consequences on the victims.”

Earlier, the US, which backs the Georgian government, stepped up confrontational rhetoric in an effort to get Russia to back down. Vice President Dick Cheney telephoned Gergia President Mikheil Saakashvili to express US solidarity in the conflict with Russia and told him “Russian aggression must not go unanswered,” the vice president’s office said on Monday.