Georgia says Russia trying to undermine Rice visit

By Margarita Antidze and Arshad Mohammed

TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgia on Wednesday accused Russia of sending fighter jets into its airspace to undermine a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is expected to signal firm support for the pro-Western state.

A U.S. official traveling with Rice to Tbilisi said a simmering confrontation between Georgia and Russia over two breakaway regions could lead to a catastrophe, and that Moscow should realize it is no longer Georgia's imperial master.

Russia made no comment on the allegations it had flown into Georgian airspace. Russia's foreign ministry said Tbilisi was stoking tensions in the volatile region by orchestrating acts of violence in the separatist regions.

The two regions -- Abkhazia and South Ossetia -- lie in an arc of land the West sees as a vital route for exporting oil from the Caspian Sea to world markets, and where Washington and Moscow are competing for influence.

Rice arrived in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi on Wednesday. She was to meet Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili over dinner, and have more talks on Thursday.

"Russia needs to realize that the empire is gone. Austria-Hungary is not coming back. The Ottoman empire is not coming back and the Soviet empire is not coming back," the U.S. official, who did not want to be identified, told reporters.

"It's our belief that a military cycle of confrontation will simply develop a momentum of its own and could lead to a catastrophe in the region," he said on board Rice's plane.

Asked what he meant he said: "A renewed cycle of fighting, which would be horrific."