leaning young leader who came to power in a 2003 revolution. Analysts say Bush's trip is likely to further irritate the Kremlin, which has long seen Georgia -- strategically crucial as site of a major new pipeline linking Caspian oilfields to Western markets -- as its own backyard. The first trip to Georgia by a U.S. president will reassure Saakashvili that Washington backs him against Moscow, analysts have said. The Georgian leader is also at loggerheads with the Kremlin over the separatist Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which he says Moscow supports. Speaking before his boycott was announced, Saakashvili said he would not back down on the bases. "Our position is very firm, and we are not going to bargain over this issue," he told Georgia's Rustavi-2 television. --More 2325 Local Time 2025 GMT
