Need 'closer look' at peace deal-Georgia president
WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on Thursday he would need to "take a closer look" at a U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal with Russia before signing it.
Asked in an interview with CNN's "Larry King Live" whether he would sign a six-point French-negotiated proposal that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is bringing to Georgia, Saakashvili said, "We have to see what she has to bring."
Rice, on her way to Georgia, stopped in France for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday. Officials said she will ask Saakashvili on Friday to sign the agreement which contains some apparent concessions to Moscow but would lead to the withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgia.
"We are still in the negotiating process. ... Russians are trying to justify their invasion and to legalize their presence in Georgia," Saakashvili said.
"Without genuine international peacekeepers, without genuine international transparency, these people are going to make much more trouble for us and for the rest of Europe. I think we should take a closer look at it."
Fighting between Russian and Georgian forces began last week after Georgia tried to regain control of the pro-Russian separatist province of South Ossetia and Russia launched a massive counter-offensive.
The six-point cease-fire accord provides for the withdrawal of all Russian forces, leaving behind only the peacekeeping troops who were in place in South Ossetia and Abkhazia before the start of the crisis, a senior U.S. official said.
It would give the Russian peacekeepers a new but limited authority to patrol certain areas of Georgia until third-party peacekeepers and observers arrive, the official said on condition of anonymity. (Editing by Todd Eastham)
