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Return to Transcripts main page THE SITUATION ROOM Russian Tanks on the Move; Interview With Governor Bill Richardson Aired August 11, 2008 - 16:00 ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And happening now, breaking news. Russian troops push deeper into the former Soviet Republic of Georgia amid fears of a full-scale war. John McCain sees an opening to try to prove he would be a tough commander in chief. Barack Obama on vacation, leaves McCain with a global spotlight to himself. I'll ask Democratic Governor Bill Richardson how Obama would handle Russia's invasion of Georgia. And the Obama camp is finalizing its convention plans with feature roles for Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton. Is it enough to keep her supporters from causing trouble at the convention? It is a major escalation in an already dangerous and deadly conflict. Russian tanks advancing on two fronts in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia today. Moscow's forces pushed beyond two breakaway provinces at the center of the fighting, into key cities today. Fighting now is raging in several parts of the Republic of Georgia. Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, seen here taking cover, is calling for a cease-fire. He says his independent nation is in the process of being wiped out. Russia responded today with overwhelming reports to Georgia's crackdown Thursday on separatist fighters supported by Moscow, and it sent ships to patrol off Georgia's Black Sea coast. The United States says it has evacuated 170 Americans from the Georgian republic and plans another convoy out tomorrow. President Bush plans to make a statement about the conflict soon, and we will go to that live and bring it to you here on THE SITUATION ROOM. First though, CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi for us, and he's got the latest from the ground. FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, John. Yes, the Georgian government is telling us that, effectively, Russian forces have cut this country in half by capturing a very important strategic road, and also being in control of a very important strategic town that actually leads into here, into the capital of Tbilisi. What we're hearing from the Georgian forces is they say their forces are on the retreat and they are now trying to regroup in a town about 15 miles outside of Tbilisi to try and stop or at least hold up a Russian assault on Tbilisi, if in fact that is what the Russians were planning to do. They say they have no interest and do not want to go here to Tbilisi. They say that they will remove their forces once they have pacified the situation, as they call it. But certainly, the Georgian forces still on the retreat here tonight -- John. ROBERTS: Fred, earlier today we had heard that President Saakashvili had signed a cease-fire agreement that had been proposed by the European Union. Are Russian officials in any frame of mind to accept that cease-fire? PLEITGEN: Well, that's going to be the very big question in the next couple of hours. That cease-fire agreement is being brought to Russia by the envoys of the European Union and the OSCE. It was signed today by Georgian President Saakashvili and calls for both sides to end their hostilities and for Russian troops to leave Georgian territory as fast as possible. And it also calls for putting in place a peacekeeping mission that will probably entail Georgian and Russian forces, but we do not know, and we'll see in the next coming hours, whether or not the Russian also react to that cease-fire proposal -- John. ROBERTS: Our Frederik Pleitgen monitoring the situation minute by minute there in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi for us. One American living in the Georgian capital is sharing her witnesses accounts online. ABBI TATTON, CNN INTERNET CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, John. Melissa Scholz is an American, a 23-year-old, living in Tbilisi. These are some of the updates she's been sending in over the weekend: demonstrations in the Georgian capital, she said, which started small, but by last night, there were tens of thousands of people, she said, out on the streets with banners, nationalist, symbols saying -- waving banners saying, "Stop Russia" and "Peace." Melissa said she had planned to fly out on Wednesday, but with the news trickling in today, she says she's now going to be making a move. But Tbilisi, the capital, it's rather quiet around here. Everyone's just glued to the news and trying to stay abreast. She says she's surrounded by other foreign nationals who are also getting ready to evacuate. Fears of an all-out Russian war are front and center in the presidential race here in the United States. John McCain delivered a new statement today about the fighting while campaigning in Pennsylvania. And Ed, this conflict would seem to present a political opportunity for Senator McCain. It's a full two pages, including an awful lot of history, trying to, I guess, show that he's got the foreign policy credentials to take the Oval Office. ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, John. In fact, with those Russian tanks, as you noted, rolling deeper and deeper into Georgia, John McCain is really trying to seize upon this issue to show he's better ready to be commander in chief. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The United States and our allies should continue efforts to bring a resolution before the United Nations Security Council, condemning Russian aggression. HENRY: With Barack Obama vacationing in Hawaii, McCain has to the stage to himself to try and show he has the experience to handle a crisis and claim he was ahead of the curve months ago when he started denouncing Russian leader Vladimir Putin's anti-Democratic moves. MCCAIN: We must remind Russia's leaders that the benefits they enjoy from being part of the civilized world require their respect for the values, stability and peace of the world. HENRY: Obama has been getting briefings on the situation in Georgia and spoke out Friday, though he was not quite as forceful in denouncing Russia. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I wholeheartedly condemn the violation of Georgia's sovereignty. I think it is important at this point for all sides to show restraint and to stop this armed conflict. HENRY: McCain's offensive hearkens back to the 3:00 am ad Hillary Clinton ran in the Democratic primaries to suggest Obama was not up to the job. NARRATOR: It's 3:00 am and your children are safe and asleep. But there's a phone in the White House and it's ringing. HENRY: The ad didn't work for Clinton, but the McCain camp thinks the issue may resonate more in the general election with Independent voters concerned about security. Though McCain's claim to have a handle on national security could be slightly undermined by mispronouncing the name of Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili three times. You can see there a nine-point spread for John McCain, but perhaps not as big as one might expect because of those credentials. When asked who they trust more on the issue of the economy, Barack Obama got 54 percent, while John McCain got 35 percent. So a 19-point spread there for the Democrat, as you can see, on who the American people -- who they trust more to handle the economy. But still, John McCain pushing ahead on this issue -- John. ROBERTS: And back on Georgian and President Saakashvili there, Ed, there's nothing in John McCain's statement here about the possibility of backing up words with US military force. It's really more about the rhetoric, because as you know, neither candidate really can do very much. While they're both US senators, it's really up to the president of the United States. It's more about trying to posture, trying to show with some tough language who can get out front on this issue. And in John McCain it's case, he's trying to say that he's been talking about this long before the crisis in Georgia. For many months now, he's been pressing Vladimir Putin when he was president. Now as prime minister, saying there have been too many moves, anti-Democratic moves, if you will -- John. We ...
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