Stockholm  - Sweden on Monday said it will freeze its military cooperation with Russia in protest of the conflict in Georgia.

"During the current crisis the government says it until further notice will not conduct military manoeuvres with Russia or visit Russian military units," Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said after a meeting with the Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs.

Reinfeldt said a Swedish navy unit would next month cancel a planned visit to Russia.

Washington, Aug. 18: Washington has toughened its stance towards Russia as it sought to limit the damage to its prestige over the crisis in Georgia.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that Russia's reputation is now "in tatters", even as Russia continues to search for a fresh pretext to extend its occupation of Georgian territory.

Rice, who is heading to Brussels today for an emergency NATO summit, called on Russian President Medvedev to ensure that he carries out his latest promise to withdraw troops.

Moscow - The president of Georgia's pro-Russian separatist region of South Ossetia dismissed his government Monday and proclaimed a state of emergency, days after Georgia and Russia signed a six-point EU-mediated peace plan aimed at defusing the crisis in the Caucasus.

"I have signed three decrees, including one on the resignation of the government, another on proclamation of a state of emergency in South Ossetia and the third on setting up an emergency committee to settle the consequences of the Georgian aggression," Eduard Kokoity told Russia's Vesti-24 television.

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy demanded that Russian troops withdraw "without delay" from Georgia, adding that "this point is not negotiable in my eyes."

In an article to appear in Le Figaro newspaper Monday, Sarkozy said he would convene a special European Union summit if Russia failed to remove its military troops that entered Georgia on and after August 7.

"If this clause of the ceasefire accord is not applied rapidly and totally, I would summon an extraordinary European Council to decide what consequences to draw," the article said.

New York - Unit