US and Russia in War of Words Over Georgia Conflict

The United States has accused Russia of sabotaging airfields and other military infrastructure in Georgia, while Russia has expressed concern about the American airlift to the crisis-torn region.

An unnamed US official told the Associated Press that there was a deliberate attempt by Moscow to cripple the already battered Georgian military.

Reports from the scene indicated that Russian forces were trying to disable Georgia's ability to fight again.

The allegations came as Russia's general staff said it had concerns about the type of cargoes the US was airlifting to Georgia.

Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, its deputy chief, told a news conference that Russian "peacekeepers" were in the Georgian port of Poti to conduct intelligence operations.

The general staff had previously denied its troops were in Poti.

Nogovitsyn said: "We have information that American military transport aviation say they are delivering a certain humanitarian cargo to Tbilisi airport, though they said we had bombed the airport two days ago. Let's ask them will they invite you (the media) to check whether it is humanitarian or not?"

What was really in the cargo, he asked. "It is of major concern to Russians."

He said over the previous 24 hours "we are just watching the situation. There are still snipers out there, certain groups have gotten through, and the provocations are continuing.

"We will settle things with everyone, and right now establishing peace is the main issue."

Reports today suggested Russian troops continued to move in and around Georgian towns despite a tense ceasefire.

Washington insisted it had had no problems with the Russians in getting humanitarian and medical aid into Georgia.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said: "We are not there to defend the ports, we are there to provide humanitarian aid."

The Georgian government said today that Russia had expanded its military presence in Gori, contradicting earlier claims that it was pulling out of the key town where its presence has threatened the ceasefire.

At least five explosions were reportedly heard near Gori and other reports suggested a military supply depot near the town may have been blown up by Russians.

Georgia's foreign ministry also said the Russians had entered Poti, a Black Sea port with an oil terminal vital to the country's fragile economy.

Elsewhere in Georgia, a camera crew from Associated Press Television News saw heavily armed Russian soldiers and military vehicles in the western town of Zugdidi, some of whom were wearing blue peacekeeping helmets but others wore green camouflage helmets.

In Moscow, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, reinforced the Kremlin's determination not to guarantee Georgia's borders.

"One can forget about any talk about Georgia's territorial integrity because, I believe, it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state."

His remarks came as the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, was meeting leaders of the two separatist regions.

As confusion mounted about how Russia was responding to US calls to pull out its troops to end the week-long conflict, a Russian general said they would soon start to return control of Gori to Georgia.

Gori lies south of the disputed South Ossetia region on the main east-west road through Georgia.

Russian and Georgian soldiers are reported to have briefly confronted each other at a checkpoint on Gori's outskirts around midday local time, with Russian tanks hurrying to the scene to force the Russian troops to back off.

Some Georgian police are reported to have said that a Russian withdrawal broke down after their South Ossetian allies refused to leave.

Both sides have signed a ceasefire requiring forces to return to the positions they held before the conflict started last week. But the truce allows Russian forces to take unspecified "security measures".

The Kremlin could try to keep troops in Georgia proper while claiming to be protecting South Ossetia. Russian troops moved into the region six days ago after Georgia began a military operation to retake it from separatist control.

The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, is heading for Tbilisi after talks today in Paris with the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.