TBILISI -- US Vice President Dick Cheney accused Russia Thursday of an "illegitimate" invasion to redraw the map of Georgia and cast doubt on whether Russia could be trusted as an international partner.
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili, Cheney pledged US help beyond a one billion dollar (690 million euro) aid package announced Wednesday.
Meanwhile Moscow, which says its military intervention was justified because Georgia had attacked Russian citizens in breakaway South Ossetia, received the backing of foreign ministers from six ex-Soviet countries.
They stopped short, however, of following Russia into recognizing the independence of South Ossetia and the second separatist region of Abkhazia, also at the center of last month's brief war.
"Russia's actions have cast grave doubt on Russia's intentions and on its reliability as an international partner, not just in Georgia but across this region and indeed across the international system," Cheney said.
"After your nation won its freedom in the Rose Revolution, America came to the aid of this courageous young democracy," he said, referring to the 2003 uprising that brought Saakashvili to power.
"We are doing so again as you work to overcome an invasion of your sovereign territory and an illegitimate, unilateral attempt to change your country's borders by force that has been universally condemned by the free world."
Cheney strongly backed Georgia's bid to join NATO, a move that has been vehemently opposed by Russia, saying Washington was "fully committed" to its eventual membership.
"As the current members of NATO declared at a summit in Bucharest, Georgia will be in our alliance," he said, referring to an April meeting of the Western military bloc.
Cheney, who became the highest-ranking American official to visit Tbilisi since last month's conflict, watched boxes of aid being unloaded to highlight the one-billion-dollar US package.
"My number one priority is to rebuild my country and send a message to the world that the light of freedom can never been extinguished in Georgia," said Saakashvili at their joint news conference.
The United States has taken a lead role supporting Georgia since hostilities erupted.
Russia sent its forces into Georgia on August 8, one day after Georgia had tried to take back control of the rebel region of South Ossetia from Moscow-backed separatists.
US-Russia relations have nose-dived since the US led angry Western criticism of Moscow's military action, its recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and the continued presence of its troops in Georgia.
Cheney is pointedly not visiting Russia on a tour that has already taken him to Azerbaijan, where he stressed that the security of the energy-rich region was a top concern for Washington.
His trip has also been aimed at expanding the transit of oil and gas exports to the West through pipelines across Georgia and Azerbaijan, avoiding Russia which Washington views with increasing distrust.
The West expressed outrage at Russia's actions and NATO's chief, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, plans to visit Georgia later this month for further aid talks.
Moscow withdrew most of its forces from Georgia under a French-brokered ceasefire plan, but thousands of Russian troops that Moscow terms "peacekeepers" remain in the two rebel regions and in a buffer zone.
Cheney headed later Thursday to Ukraine where President Viktor Yushchenko has plunged the country into fresh political turmoil by pulling his Our Ukraine party out of the ruling pro-Western coalition.
Meanwhile, foreign ministers from six ex-Soviet countries on Thursday backed Russia's role in its conflict with Georgia, but stopped short of recognizing the independence of the two rebel regions there.
"The ministers support the active role of the Russian Federation in working towards peace and cooperation in the Caucasus," read a statement adopted by ministers from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a regional bloc.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega became the first foreign leader to follow Russia's lead and recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, newspaper reports there said Wednesday.
