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SUZANNE
MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: A desperate new appeal by the
president of Georgia to stop what he calls barbarian
behavior by Russia. He estimates Russian soldiers
control about one-third of his country.
Welcome to our viewers in the United States and
around the world.
Georgian officials say Russian troops pushed deeper
into the former Soviet republic today, even as Moscow
was promising to retreat from the city of Gori by
day's end. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
repeated her call for Russia to honor its cease-fire
pledge. She spoke in France before she heads to the
Georgian capital, Tbilisi. The United Nations now
says almost 115,000 people have been uprooted by the
fighting in Georgia.
We are getting reports of utter devastation in some
areas.
CNN's Michael Ware is on the ground in Georgia.
And, Michael, what are you seeing from your vantage
point?
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, to
put it simply, what I'm seeing, having visited at
least one of the front lines this afternoon, is that
Russia is firmly in the box seat.
This conflict here in Georgia has a lot more to do
with the United States than folks back home actually
realize. This is very much Russia flexing its muscle
here in this region, sending a signal, not just to
Georgia, which was a former satellite state within
the Soviet Union, now firmly pro-American, that it
cannot rely upon its American sponsor, as a message
to be sent throughout this area to other countries.
We're looking at the expansion of NATO, Americans
sponsoring and aiding states within this region who
were once aligned with the former Soviet Union, and
Russia now using this opportunity, taking its moment
when it sees the U.S. unable to respond, with its
military already overstretched in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
So, this is the time when Russia is pressing its
advantage. It launched a two-pronged offensive across
two fronts here in Georgia, moving in to secure two
pro-Russian enclaves, which it did quite rapidly. But
they did not stop there.
They have pushed deeper into truly sovereign Georgian
territory. And I can tell you that, where I was this
afternoon, on the outskirts of the Georgian city of
Gori, the Russian troops were firmly and comfortably
in control, under no threat from the ragtag columns
of Georgian troops who are desperately rallying after
the original offensive along the highway that's now
open to the Russians towards the capital Tbilisi.
Also, the Russians having secured the other
pro-Russian enclave in the West have now secured the
Georgian port town of Poti. And we heard earlier this
evening of a column of perhaps 100 Russian armored
vehicles moving south to help troops already in that
port town.
MALVEAUX: Now, Michael...
WARE: So, the Russians have made their push. They
have gone deeper into Georgian territory. And they're
consolidating it. And there's nothing America can do
to stop them -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Michael, I just spoke with the president of
Georgia. And he said that he thought that perhaps not
all of this was done by the Russian military
themselves, but that this was creating an opening for
kind of these rogue players or hoodlums to come by
and loot and destroy property.
Can you make any distinction between whether or not
this is the Russian military or whether or not there
are some other elements now that are causing havoc?
WARE: Well, this is a very complicated issue.
And Russia's playing a very delicate hand here. What
you need to understand is some of the history here,
that this is not the beginning of this conflict. This
conflict's been going on for more than a decade. In
these two pro-Russian enclaves, there's been
pro-Russian separatist guerrillas who have been in an
on-again/off-again slow-burn conflict with the
Georgian government here.
Now, last week, the Georgian government pushed into
one of these enclaves after a particularly fierce
artillery barrage from one of the pro-Russian
guerrilla groups. So, what we see here is that the
Russian military itself is here, the conventional
regular forces. But there's also separatist,
paramilitary militias.
And who is doing the damage? No one can tell at this
stage. But the paramilitaries certainly give the
Russian military plausible deniability -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right, Michael Ware, thank you so much
for updating us on the situation on the ground
there.