Bush to speak on Georgia-Russia conflict
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush will make a statement about the conflict between Russia and Georgia at 5:15 p.m. EDT (2115 GMT), a White House spokeswoman said on Monday.
"The president will provide a statement in the Rose Garden at 5:15 p.m. today," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters aboard Air Force One, en route from Beijing to Washington.
She said Bush received updates on the conflict in Georgia throughout the day as he attended the Olympic Games in Beijing, where he watched some of the swimming events and a baseball game before beginning his return flight to the United States.
"The president has been getting regular updates on the situation in Georgia. He got one this morning in his intel brief and got some throughout the day as he was at the events," Perino said.
"This afternoon at about 1:50 (p.m. EDT) he spoke with his national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, and he got a comprehensive briefing on the situation. We are continuously working to gather facts and analyzing facts on the ground," she told reporters.
The crisis began Thursday when Georgia sent forces to retake South Ossetia, a pro-Russian province that threw off Georgian rule in the 1990s. Moscow, which supports South Ossetia's independence, responded by sending its troops into Georgia.
(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, editing by Kristin Roberts)
