In a phone conversation on August 4, the Russian and U.S. Presidents discussed the situation in Georgia and “the need to decrease tensions in the region,” the White House said.

Also on August 4, after the phone conversation between Medvedev and Obama, Vice President Biden called President Saakashvili on the same matter.

The Kremlin said in its English-language statement that the two Presidents “exchanged views on lessons to be learned from the Georgia crisis that took place one year ago.”

Both the White House and the Kremlin said that Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, called his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, to wish him happy birthday.

“President Obama reiterated the importance of working through established crisis management mechanisms such as the Joint Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism and underscored the need for international monitors,” the White House said.

The White House said that the two Presidents discussed during the conversation issues related with follow-on agreement to START and the Kremlin said situation in the Middle East and Iran was also discussed.

The White House also said that in the phone conversation with President Saakashvili, Vice President Biden "expressed concern about the recent escalation in tensions and emphasized that all parties should avoid destabilizing actions."

"He also underscored the importance of having an objective international monitoring mission with access to both sides of the boundary line," the White House said. 

Biden also “reiterated U.S. support for Georgia’s democracy.”

The Georgian and South Ossetian sides traded accusations in recent few days of opening fire; and the Russian Foreign Ministry said on August 4 that Russian troops in South Ossetian were placed on high alert as Georgia’s “provocations are not stopping.” EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia, however, said there was no evidence to support claims on cases of shootings. 

Temur Iakobashvili, the Georgian state minister for reintegration, said intensive high level diplomatic efforts indicated that the United States would not “repeat the same mistake as the [Bush] administration did last year, when it did not believe that Russia would have made such step” to attack Georgia.

Eka Tkeshelashvili, the secretary of Georgian national security council, said that phone conversations demonstrate that “unlike last August, now the international community is fully ready for an immediate response” in case of renewed Russian aggression.