US backs Georgia territory integrity; sends envoy

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - The United States on Friday asserted its support for Georgia's territorial integrity and urged an immediate cease-fire in Georgia's rebel territory of South Ossetia, where Tbilisi tried to assert control and Russia sent in forces.

State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos also said the United States was sending an envoy to the region "to engage with the parties in the conflict."

"We support Georgia's territorial integrity and call for an immediate cease-fire. We urge all parties, including Georgians, South Ossetians and Russians to de-escalate and avoid conflict," Gallegos said.

He added that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other senior officials had spoken with and continued to work with the parties to seek an end to hostilities. The United States was also talking with its European allies about how to end the conflict, Gallegos said.

Fighting between Georgian forces and Russian-backed separatists raged in and around Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, after Tbilisi sent troops to take back the territory, which broke away in the 1990s.

Ex-Soviet Georgia has allied itself with the West and is pushing for membership in NATO, a bid strongly backed by the Bush administration. It lies at the heart of a region emerging as a vital energy transit route.

Asked whether the United States strongly opposed Russia's actions and whether Moscow should withdraw its forces, Gallegos said: "I am not going to discuss it."

"The most important thing now is that they stop the violence and that they de-escalate and get into a position where they can sit down and talk."

The Pentagon said it was monitoring events but has received no request for assistance from Georgian officials since Russian forces entered the country.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said about 127 U.S. defense personnel and contractors, including 35 civilians, were in the Tblisi area to train Georgian forces for deployment to Iraq. All were safe and accounted for, he said.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Russia should pull out its forces from Georgia at once. "The consequences for Euro-Atlantic stability and security are grave," McCain said in a statement.

Democratic candidate Barack Obama urged an immediate end to the conflict. "Georgia's territorial integrity must be respected. All sides should enter into direct talks on behalf of stability in Georgia, and the United States, the United Nations Security Council, and the international community should fully support a peaceful resolution to this crisis," he said in a statement. (Additional reporting by David Morgan, Caren Bohan, Sue Pleming and Matthew Bigg; Editing by Randall Mikkelsen and David Storey)