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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Russia, Georgia seek control of South Ossetia capital |
| 2008-08-10 |
| Russia accused Georgia on Saturday of seeking bloody adventures by trying to retake its breakaway region of South Ossetia and defended its own military campaign to stop it. Pro-western Georgia earlier called for a ceasefire after Moscow's bombers widened an offensive to force Tbilisi's troops back out of the region in the Caucasus mountains. "Russia's actions in South Ossetia are totally legitimate," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said, visiting an adjacent region of Russia to which thousands of refugees have fled. U.S. President George W. Bush urged Moscow to stop bombing immediately, saying it marked a dangerous escalation. Russian officials said the death toll in fighting that began on Thursday stood at 2,000. Georgian officials said that on their side, 129 people had been killed and 748 injured. Russia said it had seized the rebel capital Tskhinvali but Georgia denied this. The Moscow-backed rebels contradicted each other, one leader saying Georgians had been beaten back, but another that "The city has been lost. We have been betrayed." Current European Union president France urged Russia to accept Georgia's truce offer. "It (the EU presidency) demands an immediate ceasefire. It welcomes the offer of the ceasefire from Georgia and expects from Russia that it will immediately accept such a ceasefire." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 Too bad for Georgians. On the other hand: people who poke sticks at a bear without checking that it's securely chained... |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-08-10 08:52 |
| #2 Russia just got itself some more turf. Unless, of course, this or the next US President is willing to give Pooty something. Oh, I don't, say drop the plan for missile defense in Europe. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2008-08-10 02:15 |
| #1 The Lawyers, Guns and Money blog has this to say: The fighting continues, including airstrikes near the main Georgian oil pipeline and in the port city of Poti, which is a major oil export terminal. Putin has indicated that both Abkhazia and South Ossetia are now off the table, and will not return to Georgian sovereignty under any circumstances. Putin also seems to be managing the situation from a base in southern Russia; sorry about that, Dmitri. US and European envoys are attempting to arrange a cease fire, but unless I'm terribly wrong (and I may be terribly wrong) the situation will, from this point on, be almost entirely dictated by Russian political calculation. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-08-10 01:03 |