Russia's show of military might with its incursion into Georgia is part of a developing pattern that includes strategic bomber flights near Norway and Alaska, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, Bloomberg reported.
``I think everybody recognizes that this is not the first time that we've seen this problem,'' Rice said today as she headed to Brussels for an emergency meeting of NATO foreign ministers to discuss the Georgia crisis. ``We've had Russian strategic aviation challenging in ways that they hadn't, even along borders with the US''
Rice cited maneuvers by Russian TU-95 Bear bombers and called them ``a very dangerous game and perhaps one the Russians want to reconsider.'' She didn't say when the flights took place.
A Tu-95 bomber that was being shadowed by F-18 fighter jets buzzed the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier in the western Pacific Ocean twice at 2,000 feet ( 600 meters) on Feb. 9. Another bomber was about 50 miles away and two others flew at a greater distance from the carrier, the US Defense Department said at the time. The Pentagon said it didn't regard those encounters as provocative.
US and Georgian officials disputed today Russia's assertion that it had begun withdrawing its forces to the separatist region of South Ossetia, leaving the fate of a two-day-old cease-fire agreement in doubt.
``It is our very strong view that it didn't take that long for the Russian forces to get in,'' Rice said. ``It really shouldn't take that long for them to get out.''
Rice said she expects the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to affirm its April pledge of future membership for Georgia and Ukraine and to reassure recent entrants along Russia's border that ``they are safely within'' the protection of the alliance.
That action by NATO would send a message to Russia that ``the strategic objective of undermining Georgian democracy is not going to be achieved,'' Rice told reporters aboard her plane from Washington to Brussels.
The US will send a Defense Department team to Georgia to assess its security needs and officials from other agencies to determine what reconstruction assistance might be needed, Rice said.
The United Nations and 16 aid groups asked national governments for $58.3 million to rush food, water, medicines and shelter supplies to 128,700 Georgians forced from their homes by the fighting with Russia. Donors already have pledged $23 million to the six-month aid disbursement, according to the UN.