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THREAT OF WAR BETWEEN GEORGIA AND SOUTH OSSETIA BECOMING INCREASINGLY REAL
PanARMENIAN.Net
04.08.2008 13:36 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The threat of war between Georgia and its breakaway
region of South Ossetia is becoming increasingly real, the Russian
Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
The conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia has intensified
after the rebel region's territory was shelled late on Friday and
early on Saturday, as a result of which six people were killed and
13 wounded. South Ossetia accused Georgian forces of shelling its
territory while Georgia blamed the separatists for provoking armed
clashes.
"The situation in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict area, which sharply
aggravated on August 1-2 as a result of mass mortar shelling of
residential quarters in Tskhinvali, which claimed human lives, remains
extremely explosive. The threat of large-scale combat operations
between Georgia and South Ossetia is becoming ever more real," the
ministry said on its web site.
South Ossetia declared its independence from Georgia following the
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Hundreds died in the bloody
conflict that followed. The pro-Western Georgian leadership has said
it is determined to bring the region, along with another breakaway
republic, Abkhazia, back under central control.
South Ossetian authorities on Sunday accused Georgia of moving its
troops close to the separatist region's borders, saying that an
artillery battalion and two mortar batteries from the 4th motorized
brigade of the Georgian Defense Ministry had started movement from
the army base in Georgia's eastern town of Gori towards the separatist
republic's capital, Tskhinvali.
Georgia rejected the reports as being untrue.
South Ossetia leader Eduard Kokoity said on Saturday he was ready
to mobilize men in the separatist republic and take volunteers from
other Caucasus republics to fight Georgia.
In its statement, Russia's Foreign Ministry also urged both
conflicting parties to show restraint and prevent the use of force
in the conflict area.
"The parties should act in the spirit of goodwill and focus their
efforts on settling the crisis situation and prevent its recurrences,"
the ministry said.
According to the ministry, it is important to resume the negotiation
process in the format of the Mixed Control Commission for the
solution of the South Ossetian conflict and hold extraordinary
working meetings between representatives of the conflicting parties,
RIA Novosti reports.
PanARMENIAN.Net
04.08.2008 13:36 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The threat of war between Georgia and its breakaway
region of South Ossetia is becoming increasingly real, the Russian
Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
The conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia has intensified
after the rebel region's territory was shelled late on Friday and
early on Saturday, as a result of which six people were killed and
13 wounded. South Ossetia accused Georgian forces of shelling its
territory while Georgia blamed the separatists for provoking armed
clashes.
"The situation in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict area, which sharply
aggravated on August 1-2 as a result of mass mortar shelling of
residential quarters in Tskhinvali, which claimed human lives, remains
extremely explosive. The threat of large-scale combat operations
between Georgia and South Ossetia is becoming ever more real," the
ministry said on its web site.
South Ossetia declared its independence from Georgia following the
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Hundreds died in the bloody
conflict that followed. The pro-Western Georgian leadership has said
it is determined to bring the region, along with another breakaway
republic, Abkhazia, back under central control.
South Ossetian authorities on Sunday accused Georgia of moving its
troops close to the separatist region's borders, saying that an
artillery battalion and two mortar batteries from the 4th motorized
brigade of the Georgian Defense Ministry had started movement from
the army base in Georgia's eastern town of Gori towards the separatist
republic's capital, Tskhinvali.
Georgia rejected the reports as being untrue.
South Ossetia leader Eduard Kokoity said on Saturday he was ready
to mobilize men in the separatist republic and take volunteers from
other Caucasus republics to fight Georgia.
In its statement, Russia's Foreign Ministry also urged both
conflicting parties to show restraint and prevent the use of force
in the conflict area.
"The parties should act in the spirit of goodwill and focus their
efforts on settling the crisis situation and prevent its recurrences,"
the ministry said.
According to the ministry, it is important to resume the negotiation
process in the format of the Mixed Control Commission for the
solution of the South Ossetian conflict and hold extraordinary
working meetings between representatives of the conflicting parties,
RIA Novosti reports.