Cheney to visit Georgia and Ukraine

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney will travel to Georgia early next month, the White House said on Monday, a move that will likely be seen as an effort to shore up support for the country after its war with Russia.

Cheney will meet with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and also visit Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Italy during his trip, which will be begin September 2, his office said in a statement.

He is scheduled to meet President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan as well as Viktor Yushchenko, the president of Ukraine who has pressed to quickly join the NATO alliance after the Russia-Georgia war that unnerved many former Soviet republics.

Russia and Georgia went to war after Tbilisi tried to retake the breakaway pro-Russian province of South Ossetia on August 7-8, prompting an overwhelming counter-attack from Moscow.

Russian troops moved into Georgia beyond South Ossetia and a second separatist region of Abkhazia, leading to criticism from the United States and others that Moscow had gone too far.

In Italy, Cheney will also meet other leaders, including Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, as well as address a forum in Lake Como entitled "Intelligence on the World, Europe and Italy," his office said.

(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky, Editing by Kristin Roberts)