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US SENDS GEORGIA HELP AS RUSSIA BREAKS CEASEFIRE (2ND ROUNDUP)
Europe News
Aug 13, 2008, 17:54 GMT
Moscow/Tbilisi - A ceasefire ending the Ossetia war was in tatters
on Wednesday with Russian armoured and naval forces violating terms
supposedly agreed upon the day before, and the US announcing it would
send its own naval and air forces to the region.
US President George W Bush announced a sharp response to the Russian
troop and naval movements, declaring America would send its own air
force and fleet to the region 'for humanitarian purposes.'
A Russian armoured unit shortly after dawn drove into Georgian
border town Gori, entered a Georgian tank base, and was destroying
the installation and carrying off loot, witnesses told Deutsche
Presse-Agentur dpa.
The Russian regular motor rifle unit rode on BMP and BTR armoured
personnel carriers and, according to soldiers interviewed, had spent
four days driving from Chechnya to the Ossetia sector. There were at
least 21 Russian combat vehicles and more than 100 soldiers visible
to witnesses.
Smoke was rising from the Gori tank base by mid-afternoon. Four Czech
reporters encountering the Russian soldiers were taken into custody.
Georgian media reported murders of ethnic Georgians in villages
near the border between Georgia and Ossetia. The Human Rights Watch
confirmed the reports, noting houses looted burned by Ossetian militia
in six Georgian villages.
Colonel General Anatoly Nogovytsyn, Russia's army chief of staff,
speaking at a Moscow press conference, flatly denied Russian troops
had entered Gori. Witnesses including Gori residents interviewed by
dpa accused the Russian government of lying.
Nogovytsyn confirmed earlier Georgian reports that Russian forces
had taken control of the Georgian port of Poti and had captured and
sunk all but two Georgian naval vessels stationed there. The vessels
were sunk offshore so as not to interfere with the port's operation,
he said.
The twin Russian military moves, apparently aimed at demolishing
Georgian military infrastructure, ruined a ceasefire agreement
seemingly brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday,
and approved by Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev on Tuesday.
The de facto ceasefire had held for some 12 hours, from afternoon on
Tuesday until early Wednesday morning. A key term of the ceasefire
was the return of Georgian combat units away from the front to their
bases - a transfer which was in progress when Russian forces moved
on Gori and Poti.
A US military C-17 cargo plane was flying to Georgia with supplies
and the US Navy would soon be playing a role in the humanitarian
mission to demonstrate 'solidarity' with the Georgian people, Bush
said in one of the most confrontational statements against Russia of
his two terms in office.
The US leader's announcement dramatically upped the ante in the
once-obscure Ossetia conflict, for the first time placing the US
military on a collision course with Russia's.
Bush described the planned US naval and air force movements as
intended to 'support Georgia with humanitarian aid.' The American's
euphemism paralleled the term the Kremlin has consistently used to
describe its armored spearheads currently advancing deep into Georgia:
'peacekeepers.'
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice would travel to Tbilisi to show
US support, Bush said.
Ukraine, in a potentially related development, announced it would no
longer permit Russian warships based at the Ukrainian port Sevastopol
to sail on combat duties without clearing the move with Kiev 72 hours
ahead of time. Russia immediately declared the Ukrainian move illegal.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili at a press conference later in
the day said he welcomed Bush's announcement, and predicted US military
forces would 'operate' Georgia's air and sea ports, to provide Georgia
'a lifeline like the Berlin airlift.'
Previously-announced US measures aimed at what Washington has called
excessive Russian use of force will include cancellation of a US-Russia
joint naval exercise, Bush's boycott of a NATO meeting with Russia
and longer-term US diplomacy aimed at reducing contact between Russia
and the G7 group of industrialized nations, US media reported.
The Georgian government formally requested NATO assistance shortly
before the ceasefire came into effect, although the Caucasus nation
is not a member of the alliance.
NATO held an emergency meeting Tuesday at its Brussels headquarters,
where Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance
would not back off its eventual plans to invite Georgia into the
organization.
'That situation has not changed,' he said.
Georgia filed a suit in The Hague Court of International Justice
alleging Russian 'ethnic cleansing' after 58th Army forces moved into
South Ossetia and adjacent Georgian territories, government spokesman
Aleksander Lomaia said.
Russia for its part alleged Georgia carried out ethnic cleansing in its
attack on South Ossetia. Russian interrogators were 'interviewing'
Georgian prisoners of war for evidence, said Vladimir Markin, a
Russian Justice Ministry spokesman.
The fast-moving military events of the day cast a shadow over the
ceasefire plan suggested by Sarkozy and approved Saakashvili.
Terms included in the document included a total ceasefire, non-
interference with humanitarian aid, return of Georgian combat units
to their bases, removal of Russian combat forces from the war zone and
installation of an international peacekeeper force in South Ossetia.
The renewed Russian advances were an embarrassment for Sarkozy, who,
as the EU's representative, had acted as the key mediator between
Russia and Georgia in the ceasefire talks. The French leader was in
Tbilisi on Wednesday, along with the presidents of Poland, Ukraine,
Lithuania and Estonia and the prime minister of Latvia.
EU officials on Wednesday seemed to support the idea, suggesting EU
troops could indeed assist in Ossetia.
The streets of Tbilisi were practically back to normal Wednesday,
with restaurants open and cafes busy, and a government-organized pro-
Saakashvili demonstration jamming the Georgian capital's central
Shota Rustaveli Street.
The atmosphere in the city was generally more festive than defiant,
with tens of thousands of Tbilisi residents taking the night air for
the first time since the onset of war on Thursday.
Georgia's banks re-opened on Wednesday, one day earlier than was
planned for a wartime banking holiday.
Civilian officials within South Ossetia and particularly its unofficial
capital Tskhinvali were beginning to repair massive damage caused by
intense artillery barrages.
Regional authorities were focusing on identifying and burying corpses,
and supplying civilian survivors with food and water, said Anatoliy
Barankevich, South Ossetia's security council chief, according to an
Interfax report.
A bread factory in the region already was functional and loaf
production had already begun.
Martial law was in effect, he said.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin over the weekend promised
close to 500 million dollars of Kremlin money for the South Ossetia
reconstruction effort.
The Russian military said 74 of its soldiers died in the fighting
and 191 others were wounded.
Georgia reported 175 dead soldiers and 500 wounded. Russian authorities
said they captured an unspecified number of Georgian troops. Reports
of civilian casualties ranged from 200 to 2,000 dead.
The United Nations, the European Union and the United States were
mobilizing to deliver humanitarian assistance to refugees. About
25,000 people fled from South Ossetia into Russia, while another
2,000 went to Armenia.
Europe News
Aug 13, 2008, 17:54 GMT
Moscow/Tbilisi - A ceasefire ending the Ossetia war was in tatters
on Wednesday with Russian armoured and naval forces violating terms
supposedly agreed upon the day before, and the US announcing it would
send its own naval and air forces to the region.
US President George W Bush announced a sharp response to the Russian
troop and naval movements, declaring America would send its own air
force and fleet to the region 'for humanitarian purposes.'
A Russian armoured unit shortly after dawn drove into Georgian
border town Gori, entered a Georgian tank base, and was destroying
the installation and carrying off loot, witnesses told Deutsche
Presse-Agentur dpa.
The Russian regular motor rifle unit rode on BMP and BTR armoured
personnel carriers and, according to soldiers interviewed, had spent
four days driving from Chechnya to the Ossetia sector. There were at
least 21 Russian combat vehicles and more than 100 soldiers visible
to witnesses.
Smoke was rising from the Gori tank base by mid-afternoon. Four Czech
reporters encountering the Russian soldiers were taken into custody.
Georgian media reported murders of ethnic Georgians in villages
near the border between Georgia and Ossetia. The Human Rights Watch
confirmed the reports, noting houses looted burned by Ossetian militia
in six Georgian villages.
Colonel General Anatoly Nogovytsyn, Russia's army chief of staff,
speaking at a Moscow press conference, flatly denied Russian troops
had entered Gori. Witnesses including Gori residents interviewed by
dpa accused the Russian government of lying.
Nogovytsyn confirmed earlier Georgian reports that Russian forces
had taken control of the Georgian port of Poti and had captured and
sunk all but two Georgian naval vessels stationed there. The vessels
were sunk offshore so as not to interfere with the port's operation,
he said.
The twin Russian military moves, apparently aimed at demolishing
Georgian military infrastructure, ruined a ceasefire agreement
seemingly brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday,
and approved by Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev on Tuesday.
The de facto ceasefire had held for some 12 hours, from afternoon on
Tuesday until early Wednesday morning. A key term of the ceasefire
was the return of Georgian combat units away from the front to their
bases - a transfer which was in progress when Russian forces moved
on Gori and Poti.
A US military C-17 cargo plane was flying to Georgia with supplies
and the US Navy would soon be playing a role in the humanitarian
mission to demonstrate 'solidarity' with the Georgian people, Bush
said in one of the most confrontational statements against Russia of
his two terms in office.
The US leader's announcement dramatically upped the ante in the
once-obscure Ossetia conflict, for the first time placing the US
military on a collision course with Russia's.
Bush described the planned US naval and air force movements as
intended to 'support Georgia with humanitarian aid.' The American's
euphemism paralleled the term the Kremlin has consistently used to
describe its armored spearheads currently advancing deep into Georgia:
'peacekeepers.'
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice would travel to Tbilisi to show
US support, Bush said.
Ukraine, in a potentially related development, announced it would no
longer permit Russian warships based at the Ukrainian port Sevastopol
to sail on combat duties without clearing the move with Kiev 72 hours
ahead of time. Russia immediately declared the Ukrainian move illegal.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili at a press conference later in
the day said he welcomed Bush's announcement, and predicted US military
forces would 'operate' Georgia's air and sea ports, to provide Georgia
'a lifeline like the Berlin airlift.'
Previously-announced US measures aimed at what Washington has called
excessive Russian use of force will include cancellation of a US-Russia
joint naval exercise, Bush's boycott of a NATO meeting with Russia
and longer-term US diplomacy aimed at reducing contact between Russia
and the G7 group of industrialized nations, US media reported.
The Georgian government formally requested NATO assistance shortly
before the ceasefire came into effect, although the Caucasus nation
is not a member of the alliance.
NATO held an emergency meeting Tuesday at its Brussels headquarters,
where Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance
would not back off its eventual plans to invite Georgia into the
organization.
'That situation has not changed,' he said.
Georgia filed a suit in The Hague Court of International Justice
alleging Russian 'ethnic cleansing' after 58th Army forces moved into
South Ossetia and adjacent Georgian territories, government spokesman
Aleksander Lomaia said.
Russia for its part alleged Georgia carried out ethnic cleansing in its
attack on South Ossetia. Russian interrogators were 'interviewing'
Georgian prisoners of war for evidence, said Vladimir Markin, a
Russian Justice Ministry spokesman.
The fast-moving military events of the day cast a shadow over the
ceasefire plan suggested by Sarkozy and approved Saakashvili.
Terms included in the document included a total ceasefire, non-
interference with humanitarian aid, return of Georgian combat units
to their bases, removal of Russian combat forces from the war zone and
installation of an international peacekeeper force in South Ossetia.
The renewed Russian advances were an embarrassment for Sarkozy, who,
as the EU's representative, had acted as the key mediator between
Russia and Georgia in the ceasefire talks. The French leader was in
Tbilisi on Wednesday, along with the presidents of Poland, Ukraine,
Lithuania and Estonia and the prime minister of Latvia.
EU officials on Wednesday seemed to support the idea, suggesting EU
troops could indeed assist in Ossetia.
The streets of Tbilisi were practically back to normal Wednesday,
with restaurants open and cafes busy, and a government-organized pro-
Saakashvili demonstration jamming the Georgian capital's central
Shota Rustaveli Street.
The atmosphere in the city was generally more festive than defiant,
with tens of thousands of Tbilisi residents taking the night air for
the first time since the onset of war on Thursday.
Georgia's banks re-opened on Wednesday, one day earlier than was
planned for a wartime banking holiday.
Civilian officials within South Ossetia and particularly its unofficial
capital Tskhinvali were beginning to repair massive damage caused by
intense artillery barrages.
Regional authorities were focusing on identifying and burying corpses,
and supplying civilian survivors with food and water, said Anatoliy
Barankevich, South Ossetia's security council chief, according to an
Interfax report.
A bread factory in the region already was functional and loaf
production had already begun.
Martial law was in effect, he said.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin over the weekend promised
close to 500 million dollars of Kremlin money for the South Ossetia
reconstruction effort.
The Russian military said 74 of its soldiers died in the fighting
and 191 others were wounded.
Georgia reported 175 dead soldiers and 500 wounded. Russian authorities
said they captured an unspecified number of Georgian troops. Reports
of civilian casualties ranged from 200 to 2,000 dead.
The United Nations, the European Union and the United States were
mobilizing to deliver humanitarian assistance to refugees. About
25,000 people fled from South Ossetia into Russia, while another
2,000 went to Armenia.