Cheney to visit Georgia

Vice President Cheney will visit Georgia as part of a trip that will also take him to Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Italy, the White House announced Monday. 

{mosads}Cheney will become the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Georgia since the outbreak of an armed conflict with Russia over the breakaway province of South Ossetia earlier this month. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been dispatched to Georgia’s capital Tbilisi in a display of U.S. support for the former Soviet republic that has become a democracy and is seeking closer ties to the West.

The Vice President will meet with Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili to discuss “issues of mutual interest,” the White House announced.