Obama calls Georgian leader Saakashvili

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has called Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to assure Moscow’s outspoken foe of Washington’s continued support, the Georgian leader’s press service said on Tuesday.

Russia’s chilly ties with the West cooled further after its war with Georgia in August, when Russian troops launched a massive counter-attack in support of rebels following Tbilisi’s attempt to retake one of its breakaway regions by force.

The United States has led harsh Western criticism over Russia’s speedy recognition of Georgia’s breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and what it sees as Moscow’s disproportionate use of force during the five-day war.

Democrat Obama, who defeated Republican presidential hopeful John McCain in a Nov. 4 election, called the Georgian leader on Monday, a spokesman for Saakashvili said.

“The conversation was friendly and touched upon future relations between Georgia and the U.S.,” Saakashvili’s press service said in a statement posted on the presidential Web site www.president.gov.ge.

“Obama underlined that he supports Georgia’s territorial integrity and paid attention to the importance of continuing reforms in Georgia,” it said. “Obama expressed the hope that the two leaders would meet in the near future.” More

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