The United States should reconsider its economic, military and diplomatic relations with Russia to show Moscow the cost of its invasion of Georgia, Sen. John McCain said Wednesday.

The presumed Republican presidential nominee suggested Russia be expelled from the Group of Eight industrialized nations and be barred from joining the World Trade Organization. McCain also said NATO should reconsider its decision not to offer membership to Georgia and Ukraine, another former Soviet republic under pressure from Moscow.

“We will now need to review the full range of our relations” to show Russia the consequences of its actions, McCain said at a news conference in Michigan.

The Arizona senator has been at the forefront of the bipartisan condemnation of Russia’s response to Georgia’s move Aug. 7 to regain control of the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russian troops, which have protected the South Ossetian rebels and allowed the region to enjoy defacto independence, thrust deep into Georgian territory, raising fears that Moscow was planning to recapture the former Soviet republic.

McCain’s presumed Democratic opponent, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, echoed his sentiment, but proposed no specific action.

“The United States and Europe must review our multilateral and bilateral arrangements with Russia in light of its actions,” Obama said in a statement. He called for “direct, high-level diplomacy with both Georgia and Russia to seek immediate implementation of a cease-fire, and to achieve a lasting resolution to this crisis.”

The candidates’ reaction came after President Bush dispatched humanitarian aid to Georgia aboard U.S. military aircraft and announced that naval vessels also would take part in the “vigorous and ongoing” delivery of aid. Bush warned Russia not to interfere with U.S. access to the country, citing reports that Russian troops were blocking access to the port city of Poti and threatening the main highway into the capital of Tbilisi.

The president also repeated his call for Russian forces to withdraw from Georgia and for Moscow to honor its commitment to a ceasefire in the six-day-old war that has displaced some 100,000 people. Each side has accused the other of violating the ceasefire.

“The United States of America stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia. We insist that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected,” Bush said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to leave late Wednesday for Paris, where she was to confer with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who brokered a ceasefire Tuesday. Rice would later travel to Tbilisi, where Bush said she would “personally convey America’s unwavering support for Georgia’s democratic government.”

The reaction in Congress has included threats of legislative action against Moscow, including rejection of a civilian nuclear cooperation deal with Russia submitted May 13 to Congress. The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved legislation (HR 6574) on July 24 that would green-light the deal, but only if Moscow scales back its aid to Iran.

McCain urged caution on the nuclear deal.

“Even at the height of the Cold War, there was agreements between the United States and the then Soviet Union that were in the interests of both countries. So I would have to examine this particular proposal in the light of whether it is in America’s national security interest to go forward with that agreement,” he said.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. D-Del., said Bush should be in direct contact with Russia’s president and prime minister to avoid any misunderstandings, suggesting that Bush had not met with either man since his encounter over the weekend with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Rice said U.S. officials, herself included, are in contact with their Russian counterparts at multiple levels.

Biden also suggested Bush tell Russia’s leaders directly “that they should expect practical and political consequences to flow from Russia’s actions.”

Obama meanwhile urged that U.S. aid include reconstruction assistance, including emergency economic loans.

First posted Aug. 13, 2008 11:24 a.m.