August 12, 2008 Bush calls for cease fire as Georgia conflict widens Play video

(Prat Thakkar, NECN) - President Bush called the escalating conflict between Georgia and Russia unacceptable, and pushed for a cease fire.

The fighting which began in the province of South Ossetia spread to a second province. Things have gotten so bad that the U.S. State Department has evacuated 170 Americans stuck in Georgia.

Scores of Russian troops, with tanks and rocket launchers streamed through the Georgian breakaway province of Abkhazia Monday, as Moscow opened up a second battle front in a widening conflict with neighboring Georgia.

The conflict began last week after Georgia launched an offensive to reclaim the breakaway province of south Ossetia. Russian jets and forces retaliated. South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in 1992... Though the world has never recognized it as a sovereign nation. Russian peace keepers have been in the province ever since and most south Ossetians have Russian citizenship.

At a press briefing in Moscow Monday, a Russian senior general said their forces had not been going beyond south Ossetia and that troops were not assigned the task of entering Georgia. But by late Monday, Russia had some 9000 troops in the black sea region violating the peacekeeping limit of 2,500 troops.

At the Olympic games in Beijing president Bush spoke with Vladimir Putin directly. Monday Bush reiterated his criticism, calling it unacceptable and that Russia's response was disproportionate.