War at South Ossetia

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Quote:By DAVID NOWAK, Associated Press Writer 28 minutes ago

TBILISI, Georgia - Russia expanded its bombing blitz Sunday against neighboring U.S.-allied Georgia, targeting the country's capital for the first time while Georgian troops pulled out of the breakaway province of South Ossetia, as Russia has demanded.

Georgia's Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia says that Georgian troops have relocated to new positions outside South Ossetia.

"They are outside the region entirely," he said in a telephone conference.

Russia has demanded that Georgia pull out its troops from South Ossetia as a condition to negotiate a cease-fire. It also urged Georgia to sign a pledge not to use force against South Ossetia as another condition for ending hostilities.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said that Moscow now needs to verify the Georgian withdrawal. "We must check all that. We don't trust the Georgian side," he said.

Russian jets raided a plant on the eastern outskirts of Tbilisi that builds Su-25 ground jets used in the conflict by Georgia, a U.S. ally whose troops have been trained by American soldiers. The attack damaged runways but caused no casualties, said Georgia's Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili.

"We heard a plane go over and then a big explosion," said Malkhaz Chachanidze, a 41-year old ceramics artist whose house is located just outside the fence of the factory, which has been running since the Soviet era. "It woke us up, everything shook."

The risk of the conflict setting off a wider war increased when Russian-supported separatists in another Georgia's breakaway region, Abkhazia, launched air and artillery strikes on Georgian troops to drive them out of a small part of the province they control. Fifteen U.N. military observers were told to evacuate.

Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since splitting from Georgia in the early 1990s and have built up ties with Moscow. Russia has granted its passports to most of their residents.

In yet another sign that the conflict could widen, Ukraine warned Russia on Sunday it could bar Russian navy ships from returning to their base in the Crimea because of their deployment to Georgia's coast.

Russian jets have been roaming Georgia's skies since Friday. They raided several air bases and bombed the Black Sea port city of Poti, which has a sizable oil shipment facility.

The Russian warplanes also struck near the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline which carries Caspian crude to the West, but no supply interruptions have been reported.

Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili called it an "unprovoked brutal Russian invasion."

President Bush called for an end to the Russian bombings and an immediate halt to the violence.

"The attacks are occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. They mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis," Bush said in a statement to reporters while attending the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Jim Jeffrey, Bush's deputy national security adviser, warned that "if the disproportionate and dangerous escalation on the Russian side continues, that this will have a significant long-term impact on U.S.-Russian relations."

A Russian raid on Gori near South Ossetia Saturday which apparently targeted a military base on the town's outskirts left numerous civilian casualties.

An Associated Press reporter who visited the town shortly after the strike saw several apartment buildings in ruins, some still on fire, and scores of dead bodies and bloodied civilians. The elderly, women and children were among the victims.

Russian officials said they weren't targeting civilians, but Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Georgia brought the airstrikes upon itself by bombing civilians and Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia. He warned that the small Caucasus country should expect more attacks.

"Whatever side is used to bomb civilians and the positions of peacekeepers, this side is not safe and they should know this," Lavrov said.

The U.N. Security Council met for the third time since late Thursday night to try to help resolve the situation. Another meeting requested by Georgia was scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

Georgia launched the major offensive to regain control over South Ossetia overnight Friday.

Lavrov told reporters Saturday that some 1,500 people had been killed in South Ossetia since Friday, with the death toll rising. The figures could not be independently confirmed.

But residents of the South Ossentian provincial capital Tskhinvali who survived the bombardment by hiding in basements and later fled the city estimated that hundreds of civilians had died. They said bodies were lying everywhere.

Lomaia, Georgia's Security Council chief, estimated that Russia sent 2,500 troops into Georgia.

In Saturday's meeting with refugees in the city of Vladikavkaz across the border, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin described Georgia's actions as "complete genocide. Putin also said Georgia had effectively lost the right to rule the breakaway province — an indication Moscow could be preparing to fulfill South Ossetians' wish to be absorbed into Russia.

Georgia's Foreign Ministry said the country was "in a state of war" and accused Russia of beginning a "massive military aggression." The Georgian parliament approved a state of martial law, mobilizing reservists and ordering government authorities to work round-the-clock.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow sent troops into South Ossetia to protect its peacekeepers and civilians on a mission to "enforce peace." He said that Russia would seek to bring the Georgian attackers to criminal responsibility.

Medvedev said he was ordering the military prosecutor to document crimes against civilians in South Ossetia.

Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the breakup of the Soviet Union. Today, Russia has approximately 30 times more people than Georgia and 240 times the area.

Russia also laid much of the responsibility for ending the fighting on Washington, which has trained Georgian troops. Washington, in turned, blamed Russia.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Bush had spoken with both Medvedev and Saakashvili. But it was unclear what might persuade either side to stop shooting — both claim the other violated a cease-fire declared Thursday.

Georgia said it has shot down 10 Russian planes, including four brought down Saturday, according to Lomaia. It also claimed to have captured two Russian pilots, who were shown on Georgian television.

Russian Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the General Staff, confirmed Saturday that two Russian planes had been shot down, but did not say where or when.

Russian military commanders said 15 peacekeepers have been killed and about 150 wounded in South Ossetia, accusing Georgian troops of killing and wounding Russian peacekeepers when they seized Russian checkpoints. The allegations couldn't be independently confirmed.

In Abkhazia, the separatist government said it intended to push Georgian forces out of the Kodori Gorge. The northern part of the gorge is the only area of Abkhazia that has remained under Georgian government control.

Separatist forces also were concentrating on the border with Georgia's Zugdidi region, and Russia's NTV television reported that additional Russian troops landed in Abkhazia Sunday, heading in the same direction.

Russia also has sent a naval squadron to blockade Georgia's Black Sea coast, the Interfax news agency reported. A Russian Navy spokesman refused to comment on the report.

Lomaia, the Georgian security chief, confirmed that Russia has imposed what he called an "illegal blockade" on Georgia and turned back several ships with humanitarian supplies.

Lomaia said that Georgian administrative buildings and two villages in Abkhazia's Kodori Gorge were bombed by Russians. He said there were no casualties.

Lomaia said that Russians also raided a Georgian military facility in the Zugdidi region just south of Abkhazia, inflicting no casualties.

___

Associated Press writers Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili in Tbilisi, Georgia; Douglas Birch on the Russian-Georgian border; George Abdaladze in Gori, Georgia; and Jim Heintz, Vladimir Isachenkov and Lynn Berry in Moscow contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080810/ap_on_...a_south_ossetia

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The old Soviet Union was a red fascist police state responsible for slaughtering more people then even the Nazis at the murderous height of their power. Contemporary Russia is just a neo-fascist plutocracy attempting to disguise itself as a nation state.

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Quote:Georgia orders immediate ceasefire

Sunday, 10 August 2008 15:49

Georgia has ordered its forces to cease fire and offered to immediately begin talks with Russia to end hostilities.

'Georgian armed forces ceased fire in the Tskhinvali region,' a Georgian foreign ministry statement said.

It added that President Mikheil Saakashvili had ordered the ceasefire and that his message had been sent to the Russian side.
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'Georgia expresses its readiness to immediately start negotiations with the Russian Federation on a ceasefire and termination of hostilities,' the statement said

Russian forces have taken control of the main city in South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili has said.

There are also conflicting reports that Russian warships have set up a sea blockade to prevent arms and other military supplies from reaching Georgia.

Interfax news agency reported the blockade quoting a source in the Russian naval command.

Separately, RIA Novosti news agency quoted a senior navy source as denying that a blockade was in effect.

They said that the reports 'do not correspond with reality.

'A coastal blockade would mean war with Georgia. We are not in a state of war with Georgia,' the RIA Novosti source said.

The former soviet state has been fighting Russian troops for control of the separatist capital Tskhinvali for the past three days.

Russia earlier bombed a military airport outside the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.

Russia's bombing of Georgia's military airport, 12km from Tbilisi, is the latest target in a Russian air assault on its small neighbour following a Georgian push to re-take the pro-Moscow enclave of South Ossetia.

Second front

There were signs of a second front opening in the conflict, with Georgia accusing Russia of sending troops by sea to the larger rebel region of Abkhazia on the Black Sea.

Sergei Bagapsh, head of Georgia's separatist region of Abkhazia, has said he has sent 1,000 troops to the disputed Kodori gorge and announced the mobilisation of reservists to reinforce its positions.

He said that the region is ready to act independently.

'We are ready to enforce order and go further if there is resistance from the Georgian side,' he said.

The leader of the breakaway Georgian region has decreed a 10-day state of war in areas close to Georgian-controlled territory, Russia's Interfax news agency has reported.

A UN peacekeeping official also warned of an imminent military offensive by the Abkhaz who, like the South Ossetians, broke with Tbilisi in the early 1990s after a war.

A Georgian ceasefire offer went unheeded by Moscow and separatists in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali reported that Georgian forces, dug in on high ground outside the town, were continuing to fire on the town.

International response

Georgia has asked the US to act as a mediator with Russia in the crisis.

Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaia said they have asked US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to mediate with the Russians, to 'transmit them our message'.

The White House has said that continued Russian escalation would have 'significant' long term impact on US-Russian relations.

Ukraine has said it reserves the right to bar Russian warships dispatched to the Georgian coast from returning to their Ukrainian base of Sevastopol.

Russia's Black Sea fleet is based in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol.

An EU-US delegation headed for Georgia to try to broker an end to the conflict in the heart of the volatile Caucasus, where Russia and the West are vying for influence over crucial oil and gas supply routes.

Russia poured troops into Georgia on Friday, dramatically upping the stakes in a long-running stand-off with the ex-Soviet republic over its pro-Western policies and its drive for NATO membership.

The confrontation has sparked alarm in the West and led to angry exchanges at the UN reminiscent of the Cold War.

The Security Council is to reconvene later today for consultations on the crisis.

Yesterday the council failed for the third time to agree on a joint call for a truce between Georgia and Russia.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0810/georgia.html

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Quote:August 11, 2008 - 6:58 AM

Georgia shells S.Ossetia as Russian bombers attack

By Denis Sinyakov

TSKHINVALI, Georgia (Reuters) - Georgia shelled the capital of South Ossetia on Monday, a Russian news agency said, while Tbilisi said dozens of Russian bombers were attacking Georgia.

U.S. President George W. Bush denounced Moscow's "disproportionate response" to the South Ossetian crisis and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner began a mission to Tbilisi and Moscow to promote a peace plan designed in Paris.

The new crisis in the Caucasus has triggered alarm in the West, which gets much of its oil from a pipeline running through Georgia, and led to Cold War-style clashes at the United Nations. Oil prices rose again on Monday after a recent retreat from record levels, with crude topping $116 a barrel.

Sounds of explosions rocked the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali, now controlled by Russian troops. Soldiers said several Russian peacekeepers were killed in the Georgian shelling.

Interfax news agency quoted South Ossetian spokeswoman Irina Gagloyeva as saying the Georgians had fired Katyusha rockets killing 3 Russian peacekeepers and wounding 18. There was no independent confirmation of the casualties.

Georgia said up to 50 Russian fighter jets attacked Georgia overnight.

"Several dozen Russian bombers are in the Georgian skies and have been attacking throughout the country over the past several hours," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Georgia offered Moscow a ceasefire and peace talks on Sunday, and said it had pulled its troops back from South Ossetia. Russia demands an unconditional Georgian withdrawal.

On his final day at the Beijing Olympics, Bush, who has been a big supporter of Georgia's pro-Western leader, said he had spoken firmly to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about the crisis.

"I was very firm with Vladimir Putin ... I expressed my grave concern about the disproportionate response of Russia," Bush told NBC Sports. "We strongly condemn bombing outside of South Ossetia."

DIPLOMATIC MISSION

Kouchner, whose country holds the rotating presidency in the European Union, arrived for talks with President Mikheil Saakashvili on a mission to try to end the four-day-old war. He is expected to go to Moscow on Monday.

After meeting the pro-Western Saakashvili, Kouchner said a "controlled withdrawal of troops" was his main priority.

"Coming back to the table, negotiations, peace talks, a political solution. That's it. Easy to say, very difficult to do," Kouchner told journalists in Tbilisi.

Russian troops and tanks took control of Tskhinvali, the region's devastated capital, on Sunday after a three-day battle. Moscow said 2,000 civilians were killed and thousands made homeless in a "humanitarian catastrophe".

There has been no independent confirmation of the number of dead and wounded throughout the region.

The simmering conflict between Russia and its small, former Soviet neighbour erupted on Thursday when Georgia sent forces into South Ossetia, a pro-Russian province that threw off Georgian rule in the 1990s.

The West views Georgia as a valuable, if volatile, ally because of its strategic location on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline carrying oil from the Caspian to Europe.

Relations between Russia and Georgia have been at a low ebb because of Saakashvili's pro-western policies and his drive to take his country into NATO -- anathema to Moscow.

At the U.N., U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad suggested Russia was seeking "regime change" by saying Saakashvili should leave office. Russian envoy Vitaly Churkin obliquely suggested some leaders became "obstacles" to their people.

Saakashvili appeared smiling but dishevelled to meet Kouchner on Sunday night, before showing him the night-time view of Tbilisi from a hillside.

"It is the most surreal world crisis I could ever imagine," the Georgian leader told reporters.

A Reuters photographer entering Tskhinvali with Russian troops on Sunday saw dead Georgian soldiers lying in the streets and the ruins of buildings devastated in the fighting.

A Georgian government source said on Sunday 130 Georgian civilians and military personnel had been killed and 1,165 wounded, many because of Russian bombing inside Georgia. Russia denies hitting civilian targets.

(For special coverage see http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/georgiaconflict )

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news/internati...50000&ty=ti