Russia opens new front, drives deeper into Georgia
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA and DAVID NOWAK,
Associated Press Writers 17minutes ago
ZUGDIDI, Georgia - Russian tanks roared deep into Georgia on Monday, launching a new western front in the conflict, and Russian planesstaged air raids that sent people screaming and fleeing for cover insome towns.
The escalating warfare brought sharp words from President Bush, whopressed Moscow to accept an immediate cease-fire and pull its troopsout to avert a "dramatic and brutal escalation" of violence in theformer Soviet republic.Russian forces for the first time moved well outside the two restive,pro-Russian provinces claimed by Georgia that lie at the heart of thedispute. An Associated Press reporter saw Russian troops in control ofgovernment buildings in this town just miles from the frontier andRussian troops were reported in nearby Senaki.
Georgia's president said his country had been sliced in half with thecapture of a critical highway crossroads near the central city ofGori, and Russian warplanes launched new air raids across the country.The Russian Defense Ministry, through news agencies, denied it hadcaptured Gori and also denied any intentions to advance on theGeorgian capital of Tbilisi.The western assault expanded the days-old war beyond the centralbreakaway region of South Ossetia, where a crackdown by Georgia lastweek drew a military response from Russia.
While most Georgian forces were still busy fighting there, Russiantroops opened the western attack by invading from a second separatistprovince, Abkhazia, that occupies Georgia's coastal northwest arm.Russian forces moved into Senaki, 20 miles inland from the Black Sea,and seized police stations in Zugdidi, just outside the southernfringe of Abkhazia. Abkhazian allies took control of the nearbyvillage of Kurga, according to witnesses and Georgian officials.
U.N. officials B. Lynn Pascoe and Edmond Mulet in New York, speakingat an emergency Security Council meeting asked for by Georgia, alsoconfirmed that Russian troops have driven well beyond South Ossetiaand Abkhazia, U.N. diplomats said on condition of anonymity because itwas a closed session. They said Russian airborne troops were notmeeting any resistance while taking control of Georgia's Senaki army base.
"A full military invasion of Georgia is going on," Georgian AmbassadorIrakli Alasania told reporters later. "Now I think Security Councilhas to act."France also circulated a draft resolution calling for the "cessationof hostilities, and the complete withdrawal of Russian and Georgianforces" to prior positions. The council is expected to take up thedraft proposal Tuesday.The Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, told CNN late Monday thatRussian forces were cleansing Abkhazia of ethnic Georgians."I directly accuse Russia of ethnic cleansing," he said. At the U.N.on Friday, each side accused the other of ethnic cleansing.
By late Monday, Russian news agencies, citing the Defense Ministry,said troops had left Senaki "after liquidating the danger," but didnot give details.Early Tuesday, Russia's Interfax news agency reported that separatisttroops in Abkhazia started an operation to push Georgian forces out ofthe northern Kodori Gorge, the only area of Abkhazia still underGeorgian control. Interfax reported that Abkhazia defense headquarterssaid the offensive began about 2 a.m.
The new Russia assault came despite a claim earlier in the day by atop Russian general that Russia had no plans to enter undisputedGeorgian territory.Saakashvili earlier told a national security meeting Russia had alsotaken central Gori, which its on Georgia's only east-west highway,cutting off the eastern half of the nation from the western Black Seacoast.But the news agency Interfax cited a Russian Defense Ministry officialas denying Gori was captured. Attempts to reach Gori residents bytelephone late Monday did not go through.
Fighting also raged Monday around Tskhinvali, the capital of theseparatist province of South Ossetia.Even as Saakashvili signed a cease-fire pledge Monday with Europeanmediators, Russia flexed its military muscle and appeared determinedto subdue the small U.S. ally, which has been pressing for NATOmembership."The bombs that are falling on us, they have an inscription on them:This is for NATO. This is for the U.S.," Saakashvili told CNN.Russia's massive and multi-pronged offensive has drawn wide criticismfrom the West, but Russia has rejected calls for a cease-fire and saidit was acted to protect its citizens. Most residents of the separatistregions have Russian passports.In Zugdidi, an AP reporter saw five or six Russian soldiers postedoutside an Interior Ministry building. Several tanks and other armoredvehicles were moving through the town but the streets were nearlydeserted. Shops, restaurants and banks were shut down.
In the city of Gori, an AP reporter heard artillery fire and Georgian soldiers warned locals to get out because Russian tanks wereapproaching. Hundreds of terrified residents fled toward Tbilisi, manytrying to flag down passing cars.An AP film crew saw Georgian tanks and military vehicles speedingalong the road from Gori to Tbilisi. Firing began and people ran forcover. Cars could be seen in flames along the side of the road.Both provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their ownaffairs without international recognition since fighting to split fromGeorgia in the early 1990, and both have close ties with Moscow.
When Georgia began its offensive to regain control over South Ossetia,the Russian response was swift and overpowering — thousands of troopsand tanks poured in.Georgia had pledged a cease-fire, but it rang hollow Monday. An APreporter saw a small group of Georgian fighters open fire on a columnof Russian and Ossetian military vehicles outside Tskhinvali,triggering a 30-minute battle. The Russians later said all theGeorgians were killed.Another AP reporter was in the village of Tkviavi, 7 1/2 miles southof Tskhinvali inside undisputed Georgian territory, when a bomb from aRussian warplane struck a house. The walls of neighboring buildingsfell as screaming residents ran for cover. Eighteen people were wounded.
Hundreds of Georgian troops headed north Monday along the road towardTskhinvali, pocked with tank regiments creeping up the highway intoSouth Ossetia.In a statement in the Rose Garden, Bush said there was an apparentattempt by Russia to unseat the pro-Western Saakashvili. He saidfurther Russian action would conflict with Russian assurance itsactions were meant to restore peace in the pro-Russian separatist areas.Bush and other Western leaders have also complained that Russianwarplanes — buzzing over Georgia since Friday — have bombed Georgianoil sites and factories far from the conflict zone.
The world's seven largest economic powers urged Russia to accept animmediate cease-fire agree to international mediation.Putin criticized the United States for viewing Georgia as the victiminstead of the aggressor, and for airlifting Georgian troops back homefrom Iraq on Sunday."Of course, Saddam Hussein ought to have been hanged for destroying several Shiite villages," Putin said in Moscow. "And the incumbentGeorgian leaders who razed ten Ossetian villages at once, who ranelderly people and children with tanks, who burned civilian alive intheir sheds — these leaders must be taken under protection.
"The U.S. military was informing Russia about the flights from Iraq toavoid mishaps, one military official said Monday on condition ofanonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the subject onthe record.A Defense Department spokesman said the U.S. expected to have allGeorgian troops out of Iraq by day's end.
Pentagon officials said Monday that U.S. military was assessing thefighting every day to determine whether to pull the fewer than 100remaining American trainers out of the country.EU envoys were headed to Moscow to try to persuade Russia to accept acease-fire. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he will meet Tuesdayin Moscow with President Dmitri Medvedev and then travel to Tbilisifor a meeting with Saakashvili.
Saakashvili voiced concern Russia's true goal was to undermine hispro-Western government. "It's all about the independence and democracyof Georgia," he said.The Georgian president said Russia had sent 20,000 troops and 500tanks into Georgia. He said Russian warplanes were bombing roads andbridges, destroying radar systems and targeting Tbilisi's civilianairport. One Russian bombing raid struck the Tbilisi airport area onlya half-hour before EU envoys arrived, he said.Another hit near key Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, which carriesCaspian crude to the West. No supply interruptions have been reported.At least 9,000 Russian troops and 350 armored vehicles were inAbkhazia, according to a Russian military commander.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said more than 2,000people have been killed in South Ossetia since Friday, most of themOssetians with Russian passports. The figures could not beindependently confirmed, but refugees who fled Tskhinvali over theweekend said hundreds had been killed.Many found shelter in the Russian province of North Ossetia."The Georgians burned all of our homes," said one elderly woman, asshe sat on a bench under a tree with three other white-hairedsurvivors. "The Georgians say it is their land. Where is our land, then?"___
Associated Press writers Chris Torchia reported from Zugdidi, Georgia;Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili from Tbilisi, Georgia; David Nowak from Gori,Georgia; Douglas Birch from Vladikavkaz, Russia; Jim Heintz, VladimirIsachenkov and Lynn Berry from Moscow; and Pauline Jelinek fromWashington and John Heilprin from the U.N.
