Rice says Russia becoming an outlaw in Georgia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia is becoming the outlaw in the conflict with Georgia, wreaking wanton destruction on its small neighbor and trying to strangle it, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday.

In an interview with "CBS Evening News," Rice used some of her strongest language yet to condemn the Russians' behavior in the Black Sea state.

"Russia is very clearly isolating itself. It's becoming more and more the outlaw in this conflict," Rice told CBS in the interview in Brussels, where she attended a NATO meeting on the crisis. "They intend and probably still do intend to strangle Georgia and its economy."

The Kremlin said earlier on Tuesday that Russian troops will pull back from Georgia's heartland by the end of this week but NATO said it was freezing contacts with Moscow until all Russian forces were out of the country.

Western powers, led by the United States, have called for an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops under a ceasefire plan that ended the two countries' short war over the rebel Georgian province of South Ossetia.

In the CBS interview, Rice was asked repeatedly what the United States or NATO would do if Russia did not keep its word and leave Georgia.

Rice's response was that Russia was effectively roping itself off from the rest of the world and in danger of destroying its case for integration into global institutions. "Russia is the loser here," she said.

"Does anybody really doubt that Russia could use its overwhelming military advantage to beat up on a small neighbor? Well, that's what they've done," she said.

The Russians had committed "wanton destruction of civilian infrastructure." They were also harassing people on highways and had closed the port of Poti, she said.

Rice also cited "reports of the use of munitions that should never be used against civilians" -- an apparent reference to a human rights' group's accusation that Russia dropped cluster bombs in populated areas of Georgia. Moscow denied doing so.

Rice said NATO on Tuesday had spoken "with strength and unity" in its decision to suspend regular contacts with Russia.

"The message is very clear and we will continue to consider what further consequences are appropriate as Russia demonstrates this kind of behavior," she said.

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Kristin Roberts)