South Ossetia alleges large-scale Georgian troop border movements
19:15 | 07/ 08/ 2008
TSKHINVALI/TBILISI, August 7 (RIA Novosti) - Georgian troops are heading in large numbers toward South Ossetia, the head of the breakaway republic's Security Council said on Thursday.
"Numerous military units are heading toward the [de facto South Ossetian] border," Anatoly Barankevich said.
The reports were dismissed by Shota Khizanishvili, a senior Georgian police officer. He also said that two Georgian peacekeepers were wounded earlier in the day by a South Ossetian bombardment of the Georgian village of Avnevi.
He said that the peacekeepers' armored personnel carrier was blown up in the attack. He also added that a Georgian cellular phone tower had been destroyed.
Sporadic shelling and skirmishes have continued between Georgia and South Ossetia throughout the week. Six South Ossetians were killed and another 15 wounded in a Georgian attack on the night of August 2. Tskhinvali said 14 people were wounded in heavy shelling last night.
Georgia has also accused South Ossetia of attacks on border villages and of provoking confrontations.
Barankevich also said tanks, infantry and armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery mounts, howitzers and over 1,000 military personnel were moving toward the South Ossetian border.
He also called on the Russian authorities and all "sane forces" in Georgia to put a halt to the "mayhem."
Meanwhile, Yury Popov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's envoy and a Russian co-chairman of the Joint Control Commission, has arrived in Tskhinvali for talks with peacekeepers and South Ossetian authorities.
"I have arrived in Tskhinvali, and am now entering the peacekeeping headquarters, where I have an appointment with the peacekeeping commander, General Marat Kulakhmetov. I am also likely to hold talks with South Ossetian Deputy Prime Minister Boris Chochiyev," Popov said on the phone.
He said Georgian Reintegration Minister Temur Yakobashvili had already held talks with Kulakhmetov in the South Ossetian capital.
Arrangements were made on Tuesday for direct talks on Thursday between Tbilisi and Tskhinvali with Russia's mediation. However, Chochiyev said on Wednesday he refused to hold talks with Yakobashvili, insisting that the JCC hold a full-fledged meeting on Saturday.
Georgia has rejected the Joint Control Commission as "outdated," and says the commission favors the South Ossetian leadership.
South Ossetia and another Georgian breakaway republic, Abkhazia, broke away from Georgia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, gaining de facto independence after bloody conflicts with Tbilisi.
Georgia has pledged to bring the two tiny republics back under central control and has accused Russia of trying to annex the regions.
NATO and the EU Council of Ministers have called on all the sides in the conflict to avoid the use of force, to calm tensions, and seek a peaceful solution through negotiations.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20080807/115877733.html---
Georgian-Ossetian conflict settlement may call for shuttle diplomacy
RBC, 07.08.2008, Tbilisi 10:21:24.Russia's special ambassador Yury Popov, who is also a co-chairman of the joint control commission for Georgian-Ossetian conflict settlement, arrived in Tbilisi. Today, he is scheduled to meet with Georgia's Reintegration Minister Teimuraz Yakobashvili and Deputy Prime Minister of the breakaway Republic of South Ossetia Boris Chochiyev. Popov told journalists in Tbilisi's airport that if South Ossetia refused to conduct any negotiations, he was prepared to resort to the so-called shuttle diplomacy acting as an intermediary between the two sides. He stressed that Russia had remained firm on maintaining the joint control commission as the only format legally authorized to make decisions.
http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20080807102124.shtmlAug. 07, 2008E-mail | Home
New Shootout on Georgia’s Border, Ossetia Suffers Losses
Having positioned themselves at captured mountain heights, Georgia’s military first shelled Sarabuk-village of Ossetia and the police checkpoint located nearby.
The attack demolished more than 20 percent of houses in Dmenis-village. There are victims but their number isn’t clear yet, South Ossetia’s authorities announced.
More than 20 percent of buildings have been demolished in Dmenis as a result of shooting. The residents have hidden in cellars, and it is impossible to estimate the losses even approximately. Officers have been ordered to adequately respond to Georgian fire,” South Ossetia's Defense Ministry announced.
Satikar-village and outskirts of South Ossetia’s capital Tskhinvali are being shelled as well.
Armored vehicles, artillery, troops are nearing the region, the Defense Ministry said. The Georgians have amassed dozens of tanks and howitzer weapons in Tskhinvali direction.
Georgia, however, blames the beginning of attack on South Ossetia, claiming that separatists shelled Eredvi, Prisi, Avnevi, Dvani and Nuli villages, and peacekeepers of Georgia were forced to fire back.
http://www.kommersant.com/p-13006/Georgia_Ossetia_conflict/Georgia shells its breakaway republic
Residents are reportedly fleeing South Ossetian cities and villages as Georgian shells continue to rain in. South Ossetian officials say the artillery fire is coming from Georgian villages on the border. They say a full-scale military attack is under way and that more Georgian troops and tanks are on their way.
South Ossetian Security Council’s Secretary, Anatoly Barankevich said that the Georgian President promised to show ‘maximum restraint’.
“But his words once again have proved to be lies. Under the cover of these announcements a large amount of armed vehicles are approaching including tanks and more than a thousand troops,” Barankevich said.
He also said that one Ossetian village “has been under heavy shelling for several hours” and parts of it are on fire.
“This all shows that a massive aggression against the South Ossetian Republic is beginning,” he said.
Earlier, four people were reported to have been killed and more than two dozen injured in artillery exchanges.
After a night of gunfire, the shelling resumed at daybreak. Residents are on the move, evacuating vulnerable areas of the South Ossetian capital.
Authorities in the breakaway region say the bombardment started in Georgian-controlled areas over the border, and they were forced to return fire.
The republic’s President, Eduard Kokoity, says his forces are acting in self defence: “South Ossetia stopped shooting for 40 minutes and Russian peacekeepers attempted to convince Georgia to stop firing. Yet they continue the shooting using heavy artillery and grenades. We opened fire in response,” he said.
Hospitals in South Ossetia began filling up with casualties overnight.
Fourteen people received treatment, ten civilians and four military officials.
Georgia is reporting casualties too, accusing South Ossetia of shelling civilian settlements in the border region.
Georgia's Reintegration Minister, Temur Yakobashvili, insists South Ossetia started the latest spat: “The secessionist side decided Georgians were trying to occupy the hills, which doesn't correspond to reality. And based on that false information they started to attack Georgian civilian villages,” he said.
The Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has called for an end to the violence, saying he is ready for negotiations with the breakaway region. He accuses South Ossetia of stirring up violence and thwarting the talks.
"We must use joint efforts to end this madness,” he said.
“I have ordered my representative in the negotiations to meet with representatives from the Russian side both in Tbilisi and the area of conflict. We must find ways to avoid similar excesses of violence and danger to the population. We will use maximum restraint, but I don't recommend anyone continues to provoke us," Saakashvili said.
Russia has expressed deep concern about the outbreak of shelling.
The latest reports say Georgia is moving a large contingent of troops to the border region - a move Moscow says could mean its preparing for war.
The Russian government has sent envoys to the region, who along with its permanent peacekeepers there, are pushing for negotiations between the two sides.
South Ossetia has been controlled by an unrecognised separatist government since the end of a war with Georgia in the early 1990s.
Tensions in the region have soared in recent months and outbreaks of violence have become increasingly frequent in the border regions.
Georgia says its an internal affair that can be resolved without outside interference.
But Russia’s Foreign Ministry has warned that in the event of an escalation in violence, it will move to defend a region where most residents hold Russian passports.
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Georgia shells its breakaway republic
Residents are reportedly fleeing South Ossetian cities and villages as Georgian shells continue to rain in. South Ossetian officials say the artillery fire is coming from Georgian villages on the border. They say a full-scale military attack is under way and that more Georgian troops and tanks are on their way.
South Ossetian Security Council’s Secretary, Anatoly Barankevich said that the Georgian President promised to show ‘maximum restraint’.
“But his words once again have proved to be lies. Under the cover of these announcements a large amount of armed vehicles are approaching including tanks and more than a thousand troops,” Barankevich said.
He also said that one Ossetian village “has been under heavy shelling for several hours” and parts of it are on fire.
“This all shows that a massive aggression against the South Ossetian Republic is beginning,” he said.
Earlier, four people were reported to have been killed and more than two dozen injured in artillery exchanges.
After a night of gunfire, the shelling resumed at daybreak. Residents are on the move, evacuating vulnerable areas of the South Ossetian capital.
Authorities in the breakaway region say the bombardment started in Georgian-controlled areas over the border, and they were forced to return fire.
The republic’s President, Eduard Kokoity, says his forces are acting in self defence: “South Ossetia stopped shooting for 40 minutes and Russian peacekeepers attempted to convince Georgia to stop firing. Yet they continue the shooting using heavy artillery and grenades. We opened fire in response,” he said.
Hospitals in South Ossetia began filling up with casualties overnight.
Fourteen people received treatment, ten civilians and four military officials.
Georgia is reporting casualties too, accusing South Ossetia of shelling civilian settlements in the border region.
Georgia's Reintegration Minister, Temur Yakobashvili, insists South Ossetia started the latest spat: “The secessionist side decided Georgians were trying to occupy the hills, which doesn't correspond to reality. And based on that false information they started to attack Georgian civilian villages,” he said.
The Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has called for an end to the violence, saying he is ready for negotiations with the breakaway region. He accuses South Ossetia of stirring up violence and thwarting the talks.
"We must use joint efforts to end this madness,” he said.
“I have ordered my representative in the negotiations to meet with representatives from the Russian side both in Tbilisi and the area of conflict. We must find ways to avoid similar excesses of violence and danger to the population. We will use maximum restraint, but I don't recommend anyone continues to provoke us," Saakashvili said.
Russia has expressed deep concern about the outbreak of shelling.
The latest reports say Georgia is moving a large contingent of troops to the border region - a move Moscow says could mean its preparing for war.
The Russian government has sent envoys to the region, who along with its permanent peacekeepers there, are pushing for negotiations between the two sides.
South Ossetia has been controlled by an unrecognised separatist government since the end of a war with Georgia in the early 1990s.
Tensions in the region have soared in recent months and outbreaks of violence have become increasingly frequent in the border regions.
Georgia says its an internal affair that can be resolved without outside interference.
But Russia’s Foreign Ministry has warned that in the event of an escalation in violence, it will move to defend a region where most residents hold Russian passports.
Post this story to del.icio.us
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ბრძოლები ცხინვალის რეგიონში, III
