(TBILISI) - The long-proclaimed love affair between Georgia and the West hits crunch time this week.

Following all the rhetorical support for Georgia in its struggle with Russia, an EU summit and high-profile US visit to Georgia will reveal how far the West is ready to go in defence of the ex-Soviet republic.

"The upcoming week and particularly the EU summit is crucially important, a decisive moment for Georgia," said Giorgi Khutsishvili, director of the International Centre on Conflict and Negotiation.

"It will become clear whether... the world is united against Russia's actions in Georgia."

The European Union, which Georgia aspires to join, holds an emergency summit Monday in Brussels. Later in the week, US Vice President Dick Cheney is due in Georgia, as is a US warship carrying humanitarian supplies.

Western capitals have condemned Russia's August 8 incursion into Georgia, continued occupation of several districts in the north of the country, and recognition of independence for two Moscow-backed separatist regions.

Yet with the EU dependent on Russia for natural gas and Washington needing Moscow's help on Iran and other big security issues, the West may not be able to act as toughly as Georgia hopes.

Certainly Georgians feel they have earned the right to protection.

Ever since President Mikheil Saakashvili came to power in 2004, his country of less than five million people has striven to integrate with the West and win entry to the NATO military alliance.

"We are expecting the EU summit to give support to Georgia -- and not only words, but actions," Temur Yakobashvili, Georgia's minister for the separatist provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, told AFP.

"There is no point in isolating Russia," said Yakobashvili, "but we expect certain sanctions. Not affecting ordinary people, but the political elite."

Yakobashvili also called on Europe to help reconstruct infrastructure destroyed in Russian bombing, and also ease the EU visa regime for Georgians.

Cheney's visit -- part of a tour taking in Azerbaijan and Ukraine -- will provide another indication of Western resolve.

The United States has used airforce planes and naval ships to bring humanitarian aid over the last three weeks. The next to dock, probably this week, will be the USS Mount Whitney, flagship of the US Sixth Fleet.

The missions deliver aid, but also a blunt message to Moscow that Russian forces, controlling much of Georgia's coast, will not be allowed to blockade the country.

It is unclear how much stomach an overstretched and outgoing US administration has for taking on Russia.

But Georgia has been a pet project of President George W. Bush and the government here does not expect to be abandoned in its hour of need.

Georgian national security council secretary Alexander Lomaia said Cheney will discuss the status of energy pipelines crossing the country -- a key element in the relationship with the West since they bypass both Iran and Russia.

"We think that the main point of the talks will be about safety of oil and gas pipelines," Lomaia said.

Ordinary Georgians are reeling from military defeat and partial occupation. But they see hope in Western support.

"I think it will settle down here, because the whole world has rallied around us. Russia made a big mistake," said Besik Devdariani, 34, in Prospero's Books, an English-language shop in central Tbilisi.

Outside, reading a newspaper in the shade on elegant Rustaveli Avenue, Iona Maisaya, 50, said: "We are a small people and we need to be defended from these barbarians. Only the EU and America can do this.

"It's time for them to act."

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