Gates says Russia sending a message

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Russia seized upon an annual exchange of gunfire between Georgia and South Ossetia to send a message, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.

"It seems to me the Russians were prepared to take advantage of an opportunity and did so very aggressively," Gates said in Washington during a news conference.

He said Georgia and the breakaway South Ossetia region had exchanged gunfire every August since 2004. The Russian-Georgian conflict began Aug. 7 when Georgian forces tried to establish control in South Ossetia, only to be overwhelmed by Russian forces.

Russia, Gates said, was punishing Georgia "for daring to try to integrate with the West" and aggressively went "far beyond reasserting ... what it believed is the autonomy" of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway region.

He said he thought Russia's incursion also was meant as a message "to all parts of former (member states) of the Soviet Union about trying to integrate with the West and move out of the long-time Russian sphere of influence."

Russian officials "had an opportunity to make some very broad points and I think they seized that opportunity," Gates said.