August 10, 2008By RFE/RL
Georgian officials said today that its troops have pulled out of mostparts of the breakaway province of South Ossetia, where they have beenfighting Russian troops for control of the region.
News agencies quoted Georgian National Security Council SecretaryAlexander Lomania as saying "we have left practically all of SouthOssetia as an expression of good will and our willingness to stopmilitary confrontation.
"However, Russian military commanders in South Ossetia say Georgianforces, artillery, and armor remain in South Ossetia, and the situationis still tense.
The Russian Defense Ministry said today that most of the South Ossetiancapital, Tskhinvali, is controlled by Russian forces.Georgian Reintegration Minister Temur Yakobashvili says the pullout willhelp provide a humanitarian corridor to evacuate those wounded fromTskhinvali, which has been ravaged by fierce battles since Georgiantroops launched an offensive to regain control over South Ossetia in theearly hours of August 8.
In response, Russia sent tanks and troops to the region with the aim ofprotecting Russian citizens in South Ossetia. The majority of residentsof the breakaway region hold Russian passports.The Russian military also bombed cities on Georgian territory outside ofSouth Ossetia.
Georgia claims Russia has brought an additional 10,000 troops to SouthOssetia and Abkhazia -- another separatist region that broke withGeorgia after a brief war in the early 1990s.Russia has also reportedly deployed the "Moskva" missile cruiser andother Russian Black Sea Fleet ships to Georgia's coast to, as it says,prevent arms and other military supplies from being shipped in.Georgia offered a cease-fire on August 9 but Russia demanded a completeGeorgian pullback to positions before the fighting began.
Russian troops reportedly again bombed a military airfield outsideTbilisi earlier today.Making a special announcement on Georgian television today, DavidBakradze, the Georgian parliament speaker, said that Russia is planningan attack on the Georgian city of Zugdidi, on the border with Abkhazia."According to verified and reliable information at our disposal, duringthe next few hours, Russian armed forces plan to launch an attack in thedirection of the city of Zugdidi," he said.In the meantime, Abkhazia has announced the mobilization of its militaryforces with its self-styled president, Sergei Bagapsh, saying he issending 1,000 troops to the Kodori Gorge, the only party of Abkhaziathat is still controlled by Georgia.
There are conflicting reports on casualties, with Russian and SouthOssetian sources saying at least 1,500 people, mostly civilians, werekilled during the conflict.Both sides confirm that most of the casualties are civilians. Georgiaaccused Russia of bombing civilian apartment blocks in at least twoGeorgian cities, Poti and Gori, and causing dozens of deaths andhundreds of casualties.Speaking at UN headquarters in New York on August 9, Russian Ambassadorto the UN Vitaly Churkin said Russian troops did not deliberately targetcivilians.
"We are not taking any territory which would be laying outside of SouthOssetia, we have not done that," Churkin said. "And the second thing, ofcourse, we are not targeting any civilians. If there are civilian casualties, which you cannot rule out, this is, of course, deeplyregrettable. There is no fighting, there have been some reports ofbombings outside of territory of South Ossetia and if there were some --they were in the context of support of the peacemaking operation andbecause there is some Georgian military activity which is supported fromoutside of South Ossetia."Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accused Russia of trying todestroy Georgia's democracy.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who arrived in North Ossetia onAugust 9, said Georgia is seeking "bloody adventures." Speaking in theNorth Ossetian capital of Vladikavkaz, not far from South Ossetia, Putinreferred to Tbilisi's desire to join NATO, a move strongly opposed byMoscow.
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