U.S. Candidates Speak With Saakashvili; Urge Continued International Support For Georgia

August 11, 2008 8:57 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama both spoke with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili over the weekend to show their support for the former Soviet state's sovereignty.

In an emailed statement, McCain said he spoke to Saakashvili for the second time since the conflict with Russia began last week. ""For many years, I have warned against Russian actions that undermine the sovereignty of its neighbors. Unfortunately, we have seen in recent days Russia demonstrate that these concerns were well-founded," he said.

The presumptive Republican nominee reiterated his call for Russian to withdraw its forces from Georgia, which found itself invaded by Russian tanks late last week as it launched an offensive to try to reclaim South Ossetia, a region which claimed independence nearly two decades ago.

Russia has justified its actions by saying it Georgia has killed some of its peacekeepers in South Ossetia.

McCain said he was pleased that the United States and European allies were leading negotiations for a cease fire. "This is an important first step," he said before praising other former Soviet states, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland for declaring their support for Georgia's sovereignty.

Obama also spoke with Saakashvili on Saturday. The Democratic nominee-in-waiting called Russia's continued military offensive a "clear and continued violation of Georgia's sovereignty" in a written statement.

He called for the United States and the European Union to pursue aggressive diplomatic action and that attributed the escalation of the violence partly to the absence of a UN-mandated peacekeeping force. "Russia cannot play a constructive role as peacekeeper. Instead, Russian actions in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia appear to be intended to preserve an unstable status quo," he said.