Moscow, Aug 12 : With Russian Army moving into Abkhazia, another breakaway region of Georgia, in an apparent attempt to broaden the conflict over South Ossetia, French President Nicolas Sarkozy will arrive here to undertake a peace plan.

Sarkozy will meet his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in Kremlin to discuss a French peace plan that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili signed on Monday as Russian troops moved further into Georgia and casualties mounted outside the breakaway regions that sparked the war.

Washington - Russia's military offensive is designed to oust Georgia's democratically-elected government and intimidate other former Soviet states seeking closer ties to the West, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said Monday.

"This pattern of attack appears aimed not at restoring any status quo ante in South Ossetia, but rather at toppling the democratically- elected government of Georgia," McCain told reporters on the campaign trail in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Brussels - Russia's ambassador to NATO asked Monday to meet the alliance's top officials over the crisis in Georgia and rejected any criticism of his country's actions, drawing parallels with NATO's bombing raids in Serbia in 1999.

"This morning the Russian mission to NATO made the decision to propose holding an extraordinary session of the NATO-Russia Council. We insist that before NATO make any statements it conduct responsible work to find out the facts," Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin told journalists in Brussels.

Helsinki - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Finnish President Tarja Halonen on Monday discussed the situation in the breakaway region of South Ossetia in Georgia, the Finnish president's office said.

Halonen expressed concern for the situation and called for an immediate end to the fighting saying "there was no military solution" and that humanitarian relief should be channelled to the civilian population, according to a statement issued by the president's office.

The Finnish president backed recent calls for troops to be withdrawn to the positions held before fighting broke out last week.

Moscow/Tiblisi, Georgia  - Fighting continued overnight to Monday in Tiblisi, despite attempts by western mediators to end the conflict between Georgia and Russia and calling for an immediate ceasefire by all parties.

Two explosions were heard overnight in the capital Tiblisi, according to Georgia's Interior Ministry. Two military bases were also bombarded by Russian fighter planes, though no details were available.

Russian troops were in control of the South Ossetia capital Tskhinval and there were reports of relative calm on Monday after three days of continuous bombings, according to Interfax news agency.

Beijing  - US President George W Bush on Monday said he had taken a "very firm" line with Russian leaders over the "unacceptable" violence in Georgia.

"I said this violence is unacceptable - I not only said it to (Russian Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin, I've said it to the president of the country, Dmitry Medvedev," Bush told US broadcaster NBC when asked about the conflict.

Bush said his government was trying to broker a cease-fire and a return to the military status quo of August 6.