By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI,
Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 36minutes ago
TBILISI, Georgia - Russia expanded its bombing blitz to the Georgiancapital, deployed ships off the coast and, a Georgian official said,sent tanks from the separatist region of South Ossetia into Georgianterritory, heading toward a border city before being turned back Sunday.
Russia also claimed its forces sank a Georgian missile boat that wastrying to attack Russian ships in the Black Sea, news agencies reported.U.S.-allied Georgia called a unilateral cease-fire —
"We are notcrazy," said President Mikhail Saakashvili — and claimed its troopswere retreating Sunday from the disputed province of South Ossetia inthe face of Russia's far superior firepower. Russia said the soldierswere "not withdrawing but regrouping" and refused to recognize a truce.
The Russian Defense Ministry refused to comment to The AssociatedPress on the reports of the sinking and Georgian officials could notimmediately be reached. If confirmed, it could mark a seriousescalation of the fighting that has raged between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia.
International envoys headed in to try to end the fighting betweenRussia and its small U.S.-allied neighbor that erupted last week inthe Russian-backed separatist region.Saakashvili said one of the Russian raids on the airport came a halfhour before the arrival of the foreign ministers of France and Finland— in the country to try to mediate. He insisted his troops had withdrawn.
"But we are not crazy," he told CNN's "Late Edition." He said Russiahad entered his country with a force bigger than "the tank force thatwent into Afghanistan in 1979 or Czechoslovakia in 1968.""We have no interest whatsoever in pursuing hostilities," he said.Russia also insisted it was pursuing peace.Russia will only act in "self-defense," Russian Ambassador VitalyChurkin said at a U.N. Security Council meeting.
"Let's state clearly that we are ready to put an end to the war, thatwe will withdraw from South Ossetia, that we will sign an agreement onnon-use of force," Churkin proposed.But Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Temur Yakobashvili saidRussian tanks tried to cross from South Ossetia into the territory ofGeorgia proper, but were turned back by Georgian forces. He said thetanks apparently were trying to approach Gori, but did not fire on thecity of about 50,000.
Russia also sent naval vessels to patrol off Georgia's Black Seacoast, but denied Sunday that the move was aimed at establishing ablockade.The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted a Russian Defense Ministry spokesmanas saying that Georgian missile boats twice tried to attack Russianships, which fired back and sank one of the Georgian vessels.
Saakashvili ordered a unilateral cease-fire, the Foreign Ministrysaid, and the country's security council head said troops had leftSouth Ossetia. Russia, however, insisted Georgian soldiers remained around the regional capital, Tskhinvali, where the fighting has beenthe most brutal. Tskhinvali is located close to the border between thebreakaway region and the rest of Georgia.The scope of Russia's military response has the Bush administrationdeeply worried.
"We have made it clear to the Russians that if the disproportionateand dangerous escalation on the Russian side continues, that this willhave a significant long-term impact on U.S.-Russian relations," U.S.deputy national security adviser Jim Jeffrey told reporters.
Georgia, whose troops have been trained by American soldiers, began anoffensive to regain control over South Ossetia overnight Friday,launching heavy rocket and artillery fire and air strikes that poundedTskhinvali.In response, Russia launched overwhelming artillery shelling and airattacks on Georgian troops. On Sunday, Russian jets targeted anaircraft-making plant near the airport on the outskirts of Tbilisi,the capital of the former Soviet republic.
Thousands of civilians have fled South Ossetia — many seeking shelterin 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 of the fighting.She seemed confused by the conflict. "The Georgians say it is theirland," she said. "Where is our land, then? We don't know.
"The U.S. military began flying 2,000 Georgian troops home from Iraq after Georgia recalled them, even while calling for a truce."Georgia expresses its readiness to immediately start negotiations with the Russian Federation on a cease-fire and termination of hostilities," the Georgian Foreign Ministry said in a statement,adding that it had notified Russia's envoy to Tbilisi.But Russia insisted Georgian troops were continuing their attacks.
Alexander Darchiev, Russia's charge d'affairs in Washington, saidGeorgian soldiers were "not withdrawing but regrouping, including heavy armor and increased attacks on Tskhinvali."
"Mass mobilization is still under way," he told CNN's "Late Edition."The U.N. Security Council — where Russia has a veto — broke off athree-hour meeting Sunday with plans to return either later in the dayor Monday.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said more than 2,000people had been killed in South Ossetia since Friday, most of themOssetians with Russian passports. The figures could not beindependently confirmed.The respected Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy reported that twojournalists were killed by South Ossetian separatists, citing acorrespondent of Russian Newsweek magazine.
Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruledby Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup ofthe Soviet Union. Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their ownaffairs without international recognition since fighting to split fromGeorgia in the early 1990s.
Both separatist provinces have close ties with Moscow, while Georgiahas deeply angered Russia by wanting to join NATO.Georgia's Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia said the Georgiantroops had to move out of South Ossetia because of heavy Russianshelling. "Russia further escalated its aggression overnight, usingweapons on unprecedented scale," Lomaia said.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called the hostilities in South Ossetia "massacres," hours before he and Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb were scheduled to travel to Tbilisi for a meeting withSaakashvili.
Kouchner said he would deliver a "message of peace" to Georgia andRussia, and call on both countries "to stop the fighting immediately."Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, meeting Saturday with South Ossetia refugees who had fled across the border to the Russian city ofVladikavkaz, described Georgia's actions as "complete genocide." Putinalso said Georgia had lost the right to rule the breakaway province —an indication Moscow could be ready to absorb the province.President Bush has called for an end to the Russian bombings and animmediate halt to the fighting, accusing Russia of using the issue tobomb other regions in Georgia.Tskhinvali residents who survived the Georgian bombardment overnightFriday by hiding in basements and later fled the city estimated thathundreds of civilians had died.
The Georgian government said Sunday that 6,000 Russian troops haverolled into South Ossetia from the neighboring Russian province ofNorth Ossetia and 4,000 more landed in Abkhazia. The Russian militarywouldn't comment on troop movements.Russia also sent a naval squadron to blockade Georgia's Black Seacoast. Ukraine, where the ships were based, warned Russia in responsethat it has the right to bar the ships from coming back to portbecause of their mission.Both Ukraine and Georgia have sought to free themselves of Russia'sinfluence, and to integrate into the West and join NATO.
Georgia said it has shot down 10 Russian planes, but Russia acknowledged only two.
Adding to Georgia's woes, Russian-supported separatists in Abkhazialaunched air and artillery strikes on Georgian troops to drive themout of a small part of the province they control.Abkhazia's separatist government called out the army and reservists onSunday and declared it would push Georgian forces out of the northernpart of the Kodori Gorge, the only area of Abkhazia still underGeorgian control.Separatist Abkhazia forces also were concentrating on the border nearGeorgia's Zugdidi region.
___Associated Press writers David Nowak in Gori, Georgia; Douglas Birchin Vladikavkaz, Russia; and Jim Heintz, Vladimir Isachenkov and LynnBerry in Moscow contributed to this report.
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