The US Secret Service says it is investigating an effigy of President Barack Obama found hanging from a building in the Georgia hometown of former President Jimmy Carter.

Georgia and Russia on Friday mark a year since the outbreak of their war amid enduring tensions and international concern over instability in the volatile Caucasus region.

Vice President Joe Biden held talks Thursday with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, pledging US support a year after the strategic ex-Soviet state was roundly defeated in a brief war with Russia.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made a surprise visit on Monday to South Ossetia, the rebel region at the heart of a war with Georgia in 2008, where officials said he was welcomed warmly by locals.

NATO and Russia agreed on Saturday to resume political and military cooperation, ending a 10-month freeze, but failed to resolve all their differences over the war in Georgia.

Internationally backed talks to resolve Russia-Georgia tensions following 2008's war collapsed in acrimony as the Russian side walked out and the Georgians accused them of blackmail.

Georgia on Tuesday accused Russia of backing an armed coup in the Caucasus state and said troops at a military base outside Tbilisi had rebelled.

Georgian and Ukrainian officials were seeking assurances from the Obama administration that they would not lose out as the United States seeks greater cooperation from Russia.

Thousands of opposition supporters were expected to take to the streets of the Georgian capital on Saturday for a third day of protests demanding President Mikheil Saakashvili's resignation.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Thursday faced the biggest protest against his rule since an August war with Russia, as tens of thousands rallied in the capital to demand his ouster.

Ex-Soviet Georgia would seriously consider hosting a US military base if asked and is prepared to act as a transit route for Western forces in Afghanistan, senior Georgian officials said on Thursday.

Georgia and the United States will on January 4 sign a strategic partnership treaty, the Georgian foreign ministry said on Thursday, in a move that risks again provoking Russian wrath against Tbilisi.

Disappointed with failure to obtain a NATO membership and secure Europe's support, Georgia has now adopted a back door diplomacy to restore its diplomatic ties with Russia.

A Russian probe on Tuesday alleged that Georgia committed genocide in its August conflict with Russia, the latest accusation in a bitter war of words between the two foes.

The United States on Tuesday cooled its support for a formal path to help Georgia and Ukraine join NATO, amid opposition not just from Russia but also from Germany and France.

The Georgian government said Sunday that Russian patrol personnel fired shots at a motorcade carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili from the airport in Tbilisi to a settlement near the Ossetian border.

The US State Department on Thursday welcomed what it called the first real talks between Russia and Georgia over breakaway Georgian regions that erupted into a five-day war in August.

Russian and Georgian delegates are to gather at the UN headquarters in Geneva on Wednesday in a fresh bid to tackle issues left over from their brief conflict after a previous attempt ended in failure.

Thousands of opposition supporters demonstrated on Friday in the first major protest against President Mikhail Saakashvili since Georgia's August war with Russia.

US President George W Bush assured Georgia and Ukraine of US support for both former Soviet states to join the NATO alliance despite Russia's fierce opposition.

Tensions boiled around Georgia's breakaway regions on Thursday, as Tbilisi said Russia was massing troops in South Ossetia and rebels in Abkhazia accused Georgia of killing a senior army officer.

Georgia will walk out from the Commonwealth of the Independent States (CIS) in August 2009, CIS deputy executive secretary Nauryz Aidarov said at the 15th conference of the CIS education ministers in Astana on Thursday.

State and private donors meeting in Brussels pledged $4.55 billion (3.5 billion euros) in aid to conflict-stricken Georgia, the EU commission announced on Wednesday.

The International Court of Justice plans to rule on Wednesday on whether to order Russia to take immediate steps to halt what Georgia calls ethnic cleansing in the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Georgian and Russian officials failed to meet face-to-face on Wednesday at the first talks aimed at bringing both parties together to find solutions to the August conflict over rebel regions.