The FINANCIAL — According to BBC, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, heading a delegation to the Georgian capital, told the BBC that President Mikhail Saakashvili signed a document outlining EU proposals for a ceasefire, controlled withdrawals of troops on both sides and eventual political talks.
The delegation would now go to Moscow, Mr Kouchner said, to convince President Dmitry Medvedev to back the plan.
But reports from Moscow suggested the Kremlin had quickly rejected the draft plan, saying Georgia was continuing to use military force.
The Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, also spoke out, criticising the US for transporting Georgian troops from Iraq to redeploy to the conflict at home.
Earlier, Mr Medvedev accused Georgia of "genocide" in South Ossetia but said Russian troops were now in control of Tskhinvali and Moscow's military push was "largely complete".
The head of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, accompanying Mr Kouchner, said he could not predict when the conflict would end, saying only that he was "optimistic" a cessation of violence could begin "in the next few days".
Targets hit
Fighting over South Ossetia erupted late last week when Georgia launched an overnight assault on the territory, which has had de facto independence since the end of a war in 1992.
Overnight, US President George W Bush was strongly critical of Russia's military strikes against Georgia.
Speaking in Beijing, US President Bush told NBC TV that he had spoken frankly to Mr Putin when the pair met at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games last week.
"I said this violence is unacceptable," Mr Bush said, adding: "I was very firm with Vladimir Putin. Hopefully this will get resolved peacefully."
However, in a telephone call to President Saakashvili, the US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, said Russian aggression "must not go unanswered".
But White House officials refused to speculate on what America might do if the Russian military action continued.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has called on the parties to the conflict to grant safe passage to civilians trying to escape the war zone – estimated at up to 20,000 within Georgia, with some 30,000 fleeing into the Russian province of North Ossetia.
Discussion about this post