U.S. VP in Azerbaijan on tour of ex-Soviet republics

Cheney was to hold talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and top Western oil executives in Azerbaijan, which sits on substantial energy reserves and is crossed by major pipelines taking oil and gas to the West, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

The U.S. vice president will later to head to neighboring Georgia, where Washington is trying bolster support for President Mikhail Saakashvili’s U.S.-allied government,battered by last month’s short war with Russia.

Cheney will be the highest ranking US official to visit Tbilisi since Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war over the Moscow-backed rebel region of South Ossetia and Russian tanks rolled deep into Georgian territory.

In the latest sign of the crisis between Moscow and Tbilisi, Russia shut down its embassy in the Georgian capital following Georgias decision to cut diplomatic ties, an embassy spokesman said Wednesday.

"The Russian embassy in Georgia is no longer functioning. The consular section is closed as well, pending future directives from Moscow," embassy spokesman Alexander Savonov told AFP.

Georgia on Tuesday formally broke diplomatic relations with Russia following its occupation of parts of the country and recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another pro-Moscow rebel region.

UKRAINE VISIT

Cheney was also to visit Ukraine, whose President Viktor Yushchenko has repeateadly sparred with Moscow and was Wednesday engulfed in a fresh domestic political crisis.

His visit to Georgia and Ukraine is being seen by analysts as a clear message to Russia that Washington will support pro-Western governments in the region.

Cheney will provide a "strong message of reassurance to our friends in the region," his national security advisor John Hannah told reporters ahead of the trip.

But mainly Shiite Muslim Azerbaijan has trodden a more delicate line in its relations with Moscow than Kiev or Tbilisi, becoming a strong US regional ally but at the same time carefully refraining from upsetting Moscow.

Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar as president, has been criticised in the West for failing to encourage democratic reform but Cheneys talks were expected to concentrate on energy issues.

Analysts have said Cheney will be seeking to persuade Baku not to export its oil and gas resources to the West through Russia, instead of pipelines that go through Georgia, AFP also said.

Cheney will also want to ensure Azerbaijani support for the ambitious US- and EU-backed Nabucco gas pipeline, a 3,300-kilometre (2,050-mile) pipeline that would run via Turkey and the Balkan states to Austria.

Even though Cheney is making no stop in Russia, it is relations with Moscow that are likely to be the focal point of the tour.

The White House led global condemnation of Russias decision to recognize  South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, calling it "irresponsible," but laid out no concrete retaliatory plans.

The trip comes as Washington wraps up a review of US ties to Russia, which have been frayed over the Georgia conflict. The White House said Tuesday it has not ruled sanctions out as a possible response.

The vice president is to finish his trip in Italy and attend a security and intelligence forum in Lake Como and hold talks with world leaders including Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and energy executives.