Saakashvili ordered troops into South Ossetia last week to restore central control over the breakaway region, which seceded from Georgia in the 1990s and receives support from Moscow. Russia responded by sending troops to reinforce its peacekeepers in South Ossetia, sparking intense fighting.

Before meeting the Georgian President, Rice had said: “We’ll try to get this formal ceasefire in place, because the goal of this is to get a ceasefire and to get Russian forces to withdraw from the country as soon as possible.”

She said her discussions would not deal with resolving the conflict over South Ossetia or the second breakaway region, Abkhazia, situated on the Black Sea coast. This would take place in another forum, she said, on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions recognising the territorial integrity of Georgia, including the rebel regions.

A senior US official said on Thursday that the six-point accord provided for the withdrawal of all Russian forces, leaving behind only the peacekeeping troops who were in place in South Ossetia and Abkhazia before the start of the crisis.