On Thursday, during his visit to the south Caucasus state, Cheney urged the "free world" to rally with Georgia against what he called Russia's invasion of its neighbor, pledged $1 billion in aid to the country, and vowed to back Tbilisi's bid to join NATO.
"Such statements, and most of all promises to Tbilisi on NATO membership, only bolster a dangerous sense of impunity within [President Mikheil] Saakashvili's regime, and encourage its aggressive ambitions," Andrei Nesterenko said.
Nesterenko said Moscow had hoped Cheney would attempt to rein in Georgia's leaders, but instead again simply heard talk of support for "the courageous young democracy."
The diplomat said the promised U.S. aid amounted to Georgia's annual defense budget. "Quite an odd coincidence," he said.
Moscow has repeatedly said American military aid and training encouraged Tbilisi to launch an offensive to retake breakaway South Ossetia on August 6. Russia's subsequent operation to "force Georgia to accept peace" was condemned by Western leaders as excessive. Moscow later recognized South Ossetia and another Georgian rebel region, Abkhazia.
Nesterenko also said that Moscow hopes the United States will pose no obstacles to Abkhazia and South Ossetia attending UN Security Council discussions on the recent conflict.
"We hope the host country of the UN headquarters will not try to prevent representatives of the republics from arriving in New York and voicing their opinions on the recent events in the Caucasus," he said.
He suggested a Security Council session could be held in Geneva, Switzerland, as the U.S. could deny visas to South Ossetia and Abkhazia's representatives.
As the host country for the United Nations, the U.S. is obliged to issue to visas to official representatives of member states. However, Washington may choose not to grant visas to representatives of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, so far recognized only by Russia.
Both republics broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s after conflicts that took thousands of lives.
