(Adds comments by Gates, paragraphs 17-20) By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (Reuters) - The West must stand up to "bullying" by Moscow, which is becoming increasingly authoritarian and aggressive, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a speech highly critical of Russia on Thursday. In her first major address on Russia since its incursion into Georgia last month, Rice said Moscow had taken a "dark turn" that left its global standing worse than at any time since 1991, when it emerged from the fall of the Soviet Union. Rice, a former Soviet expert who has presided over a steady deterioration of relations with Russia, said Moscow's invasion of Georgia was part of a pattern that included its use of oil and natural gas as a political weapon, the suspension of a treaty on conventional forces in Europe and a threat to target peaceful nations with nuclear weapons. "The picture emerging from this pattern of behavior is that of a Russia increasingly authoritarian at home and aggressive abroad," Rice said in the speech to the German Marshall Fund. The United States and Europe must not allow Russian actions in Georgia to achieve any benefit, she said. "Not in Georgia. Not anywhere," she said. "Our strategic goal now is to make it clear to Russia's leaders that their choices are putting Russia on a one-way path to self-imposed isolation and international irrelevance." Moscow was internationally condemned for sending troops to Georgia to stop Tbilisi's attempt to reassert control over the pro-Russian, separatist region of South Ossetia. Moscow later recognized South Ossetia and another rebel region, Abkhazia, as independent states, and on Wednesday signed treaties to protect them from Georgian attack. The Kremlin said it had a moral duty to defend the regions against what it called "genocide" by Georgia's military. But some political analysts have said Russia's actions heighten the risk of Moscow attempting to exert more influence over other former Soviet territories, particularly Ukraine. 'SPHERE OF INFLUENCE' Rice rejected a Russian "sphere of influence" over its neighbors and hoped Russia leaders would "overcome their nostalgia for another time." "We cannot afford to validate the prejudices that some Russian leaders seem to have: that if you pressure free nations enough -- if you bully, and threaten, and lash out -- we will cave in, and forget, and eventually concede," Rice said. "The United States and Europe must stand up to this kind of behavior, and all who champion it." She also scoffed at Moscow's recent dispatch of "Blackjack" bombers to U.S. foe Venezuela. Rice said Russia's behavior threatened its participation in a number of global diplomatic, economic and security bodies, including the Group of Eight industrialized nations, and jeopardized Moscow's bid to join the World Trade Organization and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. But she said Washington would continue to pursue areas of common concern with Russia, from denuclearizing the Korean peninsula to stopping Iran's rulers from acquiring nuclear weapons and combating terrorism, underscoring Washington's need for Moscow to play a role in international negotiations. Rice, who called Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to tell him she was giving the speech, said the door remained open for Georgia and Ukraine to eventually join the NATO alliance. But some European governments have misgivings about allowing those states to take the first step toward joining NATO, and successfully blocked the move earlier this year. In London, Pentagon chief Robert Gates used a less critical tone when asked whether NATO should change its operational posture toward Russia as a result of events in Georgia. "I think we need to proceed with some caution because there clearly is a range of views in the alliance about how to respond, from some of our friends in eastern Europe and the Baltic states, to some of the countries in western Europe," Gates said. One U.S. analyst said he did not see the point of Rice's speech. "It didn't lay out a framework that showed American leadership for where do we go from here," said Robert Hunter, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO now with the RAND corporation. (Editing by Kristin Roberts and David Storey)
Relatives of Major Shalva Dolidze, a commander of 1st Battalion of 4th Brigade of Georgian Army killed in the conflict with South Ossetia, attend a memorial service at the cemetery in ...
Georgia
