New York -Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili issued a dramatic call late Tuesday for the United Nations to mediate in the Caucasus republic's conflict with Russia and breakaway regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia, in a speech to the UN General Assembly.

Saakashvili called on the UN to denounce Russia's "brutal invasion" of his country last month and to help implement a stalled ceasefire plan that calls for a complete pullback of Russian troops from Georgian territory.

Moscow/Tblisi, Georgia - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said he handed over "solid evidence" to the European Union that his country did not start the conflict in the southern Caucasus, Georgian media reported Tuesday.

He had proof that Georgia reacted to a large-scale Russian invasion, Saakashvili said Monday night after a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Tblisi.

"We can prove this," he was quoted as saying. "It is a very solid proof, and you have the ability to appreciate it."

Tbilisi, Georgia/Moscow - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili early Tuesday called the latest Russian agreement to withdraw from Georgian territory a step forward."

Saakashvili held a joint press conference after midnight with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had arrived late Monday from Moscow after extracting a promise from Russian Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to withdraw and to return to a ceasefire agreement that ended the five-day Caucasus war in last month.

Moscow - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, whose country had a brief war with Russia last month, Sunday said he expected billions of euros to help build up his country after the conflict.

"As for as I know, several billion euros will come from Europe and various institutions," Saakashvili said, according to remarks broadcast via state television from Tiblisi.

The European Union has not yet organized a donor's conference, and European Union ministers have called for an investigation of who started the conflict.

Berlin - Russia's actions in Georgia earlier this month had destroyed the order in Europe established after World War II, President Mikheil Saakashvili told German public radio Friday.

The Georgian president warned that Russia would be emboldened by its military success. "They are not going to stop here," he said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk.

"What Russia has done undermines and destroys the whole post-Cold War, post-Second World War European order," he said.

It was the first time since then that a European power had sought to annex territory in a neighbouring country.

Tbilisi  - President Mikheil Saakashvili Tuesday urged Georgians to pursue "peaceful resistance" to Russia after Moscow's decision to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent.

Georgia could rely on international support, as there was no legal basis to the decision announced by Russian President Dimitry Medvedev earlier in the day, Saakashvili said in an address on state television.

"Now everyone knows that the Russian leadership respects no laws and is not deploying peacekeeping troops," he said.