WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - Russia is putting dangerous pressure on Georgia that threatens to ignite a wider conflict in the Caucasus, a senior U.S. official told Congress on Wednesday. Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried recounted a list of recent Russian actions he said put economic, political and military pressure on Georgia, a former Soviet republic that aspires to join the western NATO alliance. "Georgia has been subjected to unremitting and dangerous pressure from Russia, including over the separatist regions of Abkhazia and to a lesser degree, South Ossetia," Fried told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "We are very concerned about these actions, which challenge Georgia's territorial integrity and have increased tensions in the separatist regions. They risk igniting a wider conflict," Fried said. Abkhazia and South Ossetia threw off Tbilisi's control in the early 1990s. Georgia wants to bring them back under its influence and resents the support Russia has offered them for years. Recently the Abkhazia dispute has flared as Moscow sent more troops to the region. Fried said Russia had sent combat troops to Abkhazia as part of a peacekeeping force and sent construction troops there to repair a railroad link. He noted a United Nations report that said a Russian fighter shot down a Georgian drone in April. Moscow has denied involvement in that incident. Fried expressed concern that Russian investors were buying property in Abkhazia "in disregard of Georgian law." "Some of these properties may have belonged to displaced persons, making their eventual return even more difficult," he said. Speaking of other tensions in the Caucasus, Fried said he did not think Azerbaijan was preparing for war with neighboring Armenia despite what he called "bellicose" rhetoric by some Azeri officials. Fried was responding to a query from lawmakers who referred to recent comments by Azeri leaders about the "occupation" of Azeri lands by Armenia, at a time when Azerbaijan is also accelerating its military spending. "I do not believe, and it is the assessment of the United States that Azerbaijan is not, despite this unwelcome rhetoric you referred to, preparing for war," Fried said,. "I share your views that the bellicose rhetoric is not helpful," he said, adding that the United States was keeping the situation under constant review. Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet republics, went to war in the early 1990s over the disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh, killing thousands and forcing thousands more to flee. Azerbaijan says Armenia has illegally occupied the region. Azerbaijan, which announced a 53 percent rise in military spending in April, says it is committed to stalled peace talks but has refused to rule out using force to restore its control over the disputed area. (Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by David Storey and David Wiessler)
A serviceman carries his uniform as he walks in the flooded Russian southern town of Nevinnomyssk, 60 km (37 miles) south of Stavropol, early June 17, 2008. Heavy rains flooded the ...
