MOSCOW: The man who led protests to topple Georgian President Mr Eduard Shevardnadze vowed yesterday to win the race to replace the veteran leader, as the US and Russia vied for key roles in building the country's future.
Ms Nino Burdzhanadze, interim leader since mass protests forced Mr Shevardnadze to resign on Sunday, said the opposition would field one candidate in a presidential poll set for January 4th, the same day as a parliamentary vote.
"I am ready for our victory in the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary elections," said Mr Mikhail Saakashvili, the US-educated lawyer who spearheaded the anti-Shevardnadze movement alongside Ms Burdzhanadze. "The revolution continues and will be over only when Georgia becomes happy, successful and fully formed," he said, referring to the separatist divisions that compound the country's parlous economic state.
Georgian television showed Ms Burdzhanadze holding her first telephone conversation in office with President Bush.
"Good morning Mr President," the imposing lawyer said, before discussing Washington's potential role in reviving the cash-strapped Caucasus country of five million people. "The United States will do its maximum to help Georgia preserve stability and ensure democratic values in the country," she said afterwards.
She said Mr Bush had told her: "If you have a problem call the White House and we will help immediately." US experts, along with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund officials, are due in the Georgian capital Tbilisi next week to discuss urgent help for a country with $ 1.8 billion debt and a reliance on foreign aid. The effusive offers of US assistance did little to calm Moscow's jitters that a part of its old empire was drifting rapidly towards the West.
Russian President Mr Vladimir Putin has been very cool towards Mr Shevardnadze's vanquishers, and Moscow has many ways to exert pressure on Georgia, including close ties with separatists in the Abkhazia region, control of the country's energy supplies and two military bases on Tbilisi's territory.
"Let's be frank, the Caucasus region is important for Russia," said Major-Gen Yuri Baluyevsky, the deputy chief of the Russian armed forces' General Staff. "The withdrawal of Russian military forces from Georgia will take at least 10 years," he said.
Mr Saakashvili had warm words for the West and Russia yesterday, vowing to push Georgia towards candidacy of the European Union and NATO, while maintaining close ties with Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Mr Igor Ivanov took part in talks that persuaded Mr Shevardnadze to step down from power, and Moscow's help may be needed to prevent long-simmering regional conflicts reigniting.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia won de-facto independence from Tbilisi in the 1990s, and the Adzharia province has cut transport links with the rest of Georgia since the weekend. But Abzharia's leader, Mr Aslan Abashidze, said last night that he would not push for full secession.