Tbilisi, Georgia - US Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in the capital of Georgia on Thursday in a show of support for the pro- Western government after Russian troops pushed into the former Soviet state in a brief war over its separatist regions.

Cheney is the highest ranking US official to visit Georgia since the fighting in mid-August and his visit is timed with Washington's announcement that it was boosting aid to the former Soviet republic.

The US vice president, a firm critic of Moscow, is due to hold talks with the US educated President Mikheil Saakashvili in the second part of a three-day tour that saw him in Azerbaijan on Wednesday.

After the brief talks, which are set to underline a planned 1 billion dollars of aid to Georgia, Cheney will fly on to Ukraine later Thursday.

The trip, Cheney's first-ever visit to the Georgian capital, marks US interests in East European and Caucasus states that host alternative energy pipelines to Europe bypassing Russia. (dpa)