Georgian army moves to retake South Ossetia
By MUSA SADULAYEV – 56 minutes ago
DZHAVA, Georgia (AP) — Georgia launched a major military offensive
Friday to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia, prompting
Moscow to send tanks into the region in a furious response that
threatens to engulf Georgia, a staunch U.S. ally, and Russia in all-out
war.
Hundreds were reported dead in the worst outbreak of
hostilities since the province won defacto independence in a war
against Georgia that ended in 1992. Witnesses said the South Ossetian
capital of Tskhinvali was devastated.
"I saw bodies lying on the
streets, around ruined buildings, in cars," said Lyudmila Ostayeva, 50,
who had fled with her family to Dzhava, a village near the border with
Russia. "It's impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single
building left undamaged."
The fighting broke out as much of the
world's attention was focused on the start of the Olympic Games and
many leaders, including Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and
President Bush, were on their way to Beijing.
The timing suggests
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili may have been counting on
surprise to fulfill his longtime pledge to wrest back control of South
Ossetia — a key to his hold on power.
Saakashvili agreed the
timing was not coincidental, but accused Russia of being the aggressor.
"Most decision makers have gone for the holidays," he said in an
interview with CNN. "Brilliant moment to attack a small country."
South Ossetian separatist leader Eduard Kokoity claimed hundreds of civilians had been killed.
Ten
Russian peacekeepers were killed and 30 wounded when their barracks
were hit in Georgian shelling, said Russian Ground Forces spokesman
Col. Igor Konashenkov. Russia has soldiers in South Ossetia as
peacekeeping forces but Georgia alleges they back the separatists.
Georgia,
which borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, was ruled by
Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the breakup of the
Soviet Union. The country has angered Russia by seeking NATO membership
— a bid Moscow regards as part of a Western effort to weaken its
influence in the region.
Speaking earlier on Georgian television,
Saakashvili accused Russia of sending aircraft to bomb Georgian
territory, which Russia denied.
Russia's Defense Ministry said it
was sending reinforcements for its peacekeepers, and Russian state
television and Georgian officials reported a convoy of tanks had
crossed the border. The convoy was expected to reach the provincial
capital, Tskhinvali, by evening, Channel One television said.
Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Yakobashvili said government troops were now in full control of the city.
"We
are facing Russian aggression," said Georgia's Security Council chief
Kakha Lomaya. "They have sent in their troops and weapons and they are
bombing our towns."
Putin has warned that the Georgian attack
will draw retaliation and the Defense Ministry pledged to protect South
Ossetians, most of whom have Russian citizenship.
Chairing a
session of his Security Council in the Kremlin, Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev also vowed that Moscow will protect Russian citizens.
"In
accordance with the constitution and federal law, I, as president of
Russia, am obliged to protect lives and dignity of Russian citizens
wherever they are located," Medvedev said, according to Russian news
reports. "We won't allow the death of our compatriots go unpunished."
An
AP reporter saw tanks and other heavy weapons concentrating on the
Russian side of the border with South Ossetia — supporting the Russian
TV reports of an incursion. Some villagers were fleeing into Russia.
"I
saw them (the Georgians) shelling my village," said Maria, who gave
only her first name. She said she and other villagers spent the night
in a field and then fled toward the Russian border as the fighting
escalated.
Yakobashvili said Georgian forces have shot down four
Russian combat planes over Georgian territory. He gave no details.
Russia's Defense Ministry denied an earlier Georgia report about one
Russian plane downed and has had no immediate comment on the latest
claim.
Yakobashvili said that one Russian plane had dropped a
bomb on the Vaziani military base near the Georgian capital, but no one
was hurt.
More than 1,000 U.S. Marines and soldiers were at the
base last month to teach combat skills to Georgian troops. Georgia has
about 2,000 troops in Iraq, making it the third-largest contributor to
coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain.
The White House on Friday urged Russia and Georgia to peacefully resolve their dispute over South Ossetia.
"We
urge restraint on all sides — that violence would be curtailed and that
direct dialogue could ensue in order to help resolve their
differences," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters.
NATO
Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he was seriously concerned
about the fighting and that the alliance is closely following the
situation.
South Ossetia officials said Georgia attacked with
aircraft, armor and heavy artillery. Georgian troops fired missiles at
Tskhinvali, an official said, and many buildings were on fire.
Georgia's president said Russian aircraft bombed several Georgian villages and other civilian facilities.
"A
full-scale aggression has been launched against Georgia," Saakashvili
said in a televised statement. He also announced a full military
mobilization with reservists being called into action.
A senior
Russian diplomat in charge of the South Ossetian conflict, Yuri Popov,
dismissed the Georgian claims of Russian bombings as misinformation,
the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.
Russia's Defense Ministry
denounced the Georgian attack as a "dirty adventure." "Blood shed in
South Ossetia will weigh on their conscience," the ministry said in a
statement posted on its Web site.
Russia's President Dmitry
Medvedev later chaired a session of his Security Council in the
Kremlin, vowing that Moscow will protect Russian citizens.
"In
accordance with the constitution and federal law, I, as president of
Russia, am obliged to protect lives and dignity of Russian citizens
wherever they are located," Medvedev said, according to Russian news
reports. "We won't allow the death of our compatriots go unpunished."
Saakashvili
long has pledged to restore Tbilisi's rule over South Ossetia and
another breakaway province, Abkhazia. Both regions have run their own
affairs without international recognition since splitting from Georgia
in the early 1990s and built up ties with Moscow.
Relations
between Georgia and Russia worsened notably this year as Georgia pushed
to join NATO and Russia dispatched additional peacekeeper forces to
Abkhazia.
The Georgian attack came just hours after Saakashvili
announced a unilateral cease-fire in a television broadcast late
Thursday in which he also urged South Ossetian separatist leaders to
enter talks on resolving the conflict.
Georgian officials later
blamed South Ossetian separatists for thwarting the cease-fire by
shelling Georgian villages in the area.
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