Aug. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Georgia accused Russia of waging ``full-scale war,'' as Russian troops took control of the capital of the separatist South Ossetia region, rejecting calls by the international community for an immediate cease-fire.

``It's all going to hell,'' Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said today in an interview on CNN in which he appealed for international help. ``We are willing to do cease- fire immediately providing the other side stops to shoot and to bomb.''

Russia has received no official communication from Georgia about Saakashvili's offer, the Kremlin press office said by telephone. Ships of Russia's Black Sea Fleet moved toward Abkhazia, another separatist region, and Georgia's largest port, Poti, while Russian jets crossed the border every 15 minutes to attack military and civilian targets in as many as six locations simultaneously, Georgian Security Council secretary Kakha Lomaia said. Russia's actions amounted to ``full-scale war,'' he said.

President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia's actions were a response to Georgia's assault on its citizens as well as the peacekeepers Russia has had in South Ossetia since the disputed region broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s. South Ossetia exists now as a de facto independent state with Russian economic support.

Putin's Visit

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin flew to Russia's North Ossetia region to oversee a ``humanitarian operation'' as refugees fled from the violence. Putin made the unannounced visit on his return from Beijing, where he had attended the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, the former president's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said by phone.

Putin said Russia's actions were ``absolutely justified and legitimate and more important, necessary,'' in a meeting with regional leaders in Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia, broadcast on state television.

Putin's ``visit has no military component,'' and will be short, Peskov said, declining to elaborate. Putin said 34,000 refugees had crossed the border into Russia.

Russia will discuss a cease-fire ``only if Georgia withdraws all armed forces from the conflict zone and immediately signs a non-aggression pact with South Ossetia,'' Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said on state television today.

Seeking Support

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has sought support from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and his counterparts in France and Germany, according to an interview with BBC television that was published on the ministry's Web site. He and Rice spoke three times yesterday, the ministry said.

President George W. Bush said the fighting represented ``a dangerous escalation.'' The U.S. president, in Beijing at the Olympic Games, called for an ``immediate halt to violence'' and ``an end to the Russian bombings.''

Lavrov said 1,500 civilians and 15 Russian peacekeepers have been killed so far, while Deputy Chief of the General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn said that two Russian aircraft had been shot down. Georgia has shot down 12 planes, three pilots were captured alive and a fourth was found dead, Lomaia said.

Georgia must withdraw its forces from South Ossetia and sign a non-aggression pact with the region and then ``the situation can calm down,'' Lavrov said.

State of War

Saakashvili today signed a decree declaring a state of war, Lomaia said. At least 55 Georgians, both civilian and military, have been killed, he said.

EU foreign ministers will meet early next week to discuss ways to resolve the crisis, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said in an e-mailed statement from Paris today.

Sarkozy proposed that a solution involve an immediate cease- fire, ``full respect'' for the territorial integrity of Georgia and a return to the situation on the ground that existed before hostilities erupted.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will go the region ``as soon as possible'' to discuss the proposals with all parties, the Elysee Palace statement said. France, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, earlier called on behalf of the EU for negotiations to end the fighting.

The Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has a peacekeeping mission in Georgia, is also sending an emissary to seek a cease-fire, Kouchner said late yesterday.

Challenge to Russia

Saakashvili, a U.S.-educated lawyer, came to power in the 2003 ``Rose Revolution'' backed by the U.S. He vowed to bring South Ossetia and two other separatist regions under central control in a challenge to Russia.

South Ossetia has a population of about 70,000 and is connected to Russia's North Ossetia region by a tunnel through the Caucasus Mountains. Most residents hold Russian passports.

The conflict could endanger U.S. aspirations to secure an emerging energy corridor linking Central Asia to Europe and deals a blow to its plans for bringing the former Soviet republic into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's orbit.

Georgia's Ambassador to the U.S. Vasiil Sikharulidze told Bloomberg Television the conflict would make NATO entry for the country harder, ``but we are strongly convinced we have to continue this way and that we will be a NATO member.''

Georgia is a key link in a U.S.-backed ``southern energy corridor'' that connects the Caspian Sea region with world markets, bypassing Russia. The BP Plc-led Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline to Turkey runs about 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali.

The U.S. seeks to connect Central Asia natural gas supplies with European markets, skirting Russia in an attempt to weaken the grip of Russia's state-run OAO Gazprom energy company. One planned pipeline route runs from the Georgia-Turkey border.

The ruble dropped the most against the dollar in 8 1/2 years and Russian stocks tumbled yesterday on concern the fighting would worsen.

``This could be a prolonged and bloody conflict with an unpredictable end,'' said Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst in Moscow.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexander Nicholson in Moscow at Anicholson6@bloomberg.net. Torrey Clark in Moscow at tclark8@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 9, 2008 16:45 EDT