Cheney travels to Georgia, Ukraine next week

US Vice President Dick Cheney will visit war-torn Georgia as well as Ukraine and Azerbaijan next week and meet with the three countries’ presidents, the White House said Monday.

“President Bush has asked the vice president to travel to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Italy for discussions with these key partners on issues of mutual interest,” the White House said in a statement.

Cheney, who is scheduled to depart September 2, will be the most senior US official to visit the region since Russian troops invaded Georgia two weeks ago amid a dispute over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

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The crisis has sparked fears of instability in the Caucasus, where Tbilisi’s press for NATO membership and Ukraine’s support of Georgia has riled Moscow.

Russian lawmakers voted Monday to recognise the two rebel regions as independent from Tbilisi, even as Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili warned of “disastrous results” if the Kremlin redraws the post-Soviet map.

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The White House said Cheney was to meet with Saakashvili, as well as President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Georgia’s neighbor to the southeast, and President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine.

Cheney is also due to meet Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and attend a forum in Lake Como, Italy.