Russian Air, Ground Forces Strike Georgia

Military Action Follows Georgian Offensive to Reassert Control Over Separatist South Ossetia

(History and information about the Republic of Georgia here.--java)

By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, August 9, 2008; A01

MOSCOW, Aug. 8 -- Russia launched airstrikes Friday deep inside Georgia and mobilized columns of tanks after Georgian forces embarked on a major offensive to reassert control over South Ossetia, a separatist province. Political leaders on both sides said that war had begun. The United States, an ally of Georgia, and other governments appealed for a cease-fire.

Georgian army units quickly seized Tskhinvali, capital of the mountainous province, Georgian officials said. But large numbers of Russian tanks appeared to be moving against them there. Russian television showed what was described as a Georgian armored vehicle burning on the city's streets. Local officials reported large numbers of civilians killed. Russian officials said that more than 10 of their troops had died.

Georgia, a former Soviet republic, became independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. South Ossetia then fought a war to break away from Georgia and has had de facto independence since 1992. The province is dominated by an overwhelmingly ethnic Ossetian population, many of whom have taken Russian citizenship. South Ossetia has received support from Russia, which is suspicious of Georgia's close links with the United States and its bid to join the NATO alliance.

Georgia's U.S.-educated president, Mikheil Saakashvili, has made recovery of South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, a top priority. "A full-scale aggression has been launched against Georgia," Saakashvili declared in a television statement. He announced a full military mobilization, with reservists being called into action. "Only thus shall we save our country," he said. Georgian officials also said they would recall troops in Iraq to bolster forces against the Russians.

In an interview with CNN, Saakashvili called for unspecified U.S. support for Georgia, comparing the situation to Soviet crackdowns in places such as Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. "This is not about a tiny separatist area inside Georgia. . . . This is not about Georgia anymore. It is about America, its values," he said.

President Bush discussed the crisis with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Beijing, where both were attending the Opening Ceremonies of the Summer Olympics, administration officials said. Putin told Bush that "war has started today in South Ossetia," according to Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

The Bush administration offered strongly worded backing for Georgia but avoided any mention of possible military assistance. In Beijing, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said "the United States supports Georgia's territorial integrity, and we call for an immediate cease-fire." The administration was urging "all parties -- Georgians, South Ossetians and Russians -- to de-escalate the tension and avoid conflict," Perino said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who spoke several times by telephone with her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, was more specific. "We call on Russia to cease attacks on Georgia by aircraft and missiles, respect Georgia's territorial integrity, and withdraw its ground combat forces from Georgian soil," she said in a statement.

The presidential candidates, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), called separately for an end to the violence and for U.N. Security Council action. McCain demanded that Russia "withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory"; Obama said Georgian territorial integrity "must be respected."

The administration and the European Union agreed to send mediators, an effort in which France appeared to take the lead. France, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, issued a communique saying that envoys would be sent to Georgia from the E.U., the United States and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

About 130 U.S. military and civilian personnel are currently located in Georgia, where they are training Georgian troops for deployment to Iraq as part of the multinational force there. U.S. military officials in Baghdad said they had gotten no official word about statements from Tblisi that half of Georgia's 2,000-troop contingent was being called home.

In New York, Georgia convened an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council to try to secure a cessation of hostilities and to press Russia to withdraw its military forces. The 15-nation council struggled unsuccessfully in a closed-door session to fashion a statement calling for an end to the fighting, but the United States and Russia remained deadlocked over wording.

Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said Russia was compelled to intervene to protect Russian citizens from attacks by Georgian forces, and that those responsible for violence would be held accountable. He said that Georgia's actions call into question "the viability of Georgia as a state, their viability as a responsible member of the world community."

The two sides have long skirmished along the unofficial border between Georgia and South Ossetia, where Russia has maintained a force of soldiers who are officially peacekeepers, but who Georgians see as allies of the separatists. Georgian officials said their offensive was triggered early Friday after separatists continued to shell Georgian villages following the announcement of a unilateral cease-fire by Saakashvili on Thursday.

Television images showed Georgian rockets firing into the night sky. Reporters in Tskhinvali said many houses were engulfed in flames, a hospital was destroyed and a university was on fire. One Russian peacekeeper told Interfax, the Russian news agency, that the city was "practically destroyed."

More than 10 Russian peacekeepers have been killed and about 30 have been wounded in Tskhinvali, Col. Igor Konashenkov, aide to the commander in chief of the Russian Ground Forces, told Interfax.

Estimates of civilian casualties from the separatist government ran as high as 1,400. South Ossetian civilians were flooding to the border with Russia, according to news reports. Russian news media said that paramilitary fighters were also streaming across the border from Russia, including from North Ossetia, a Russian republic that shares ethnic ties with the South Ossetians.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, facing his first major crisis since taking office in May, called an emergency meeting of the national security council. "We will not tolerate the death of our citizens," he said at the meeting. "Those guilty will receive due punishment." Russian state television showed a column of Russian tanks and troops on the move and said that the force was already inside South Ossetia.

Georgian officials said that Russian aircraft were striking strategic Georgian positions far beyond South Ossetia. By their account, attacks occurred at the Black Sea port of Poti, Marneuli air base, another air base in Bolnisi and the Vaziani military installation about 15 miles from the capital. The foreign ministry said several Georgian military aircraft were destroyed at Marneuli.

Russia denied that its aircraft were involved in hostilities, as well as a claim by Saakashvili that Georgian forces had shot down two Russian jet fighters.

In Tbilisi, a large radio and TV tower was blacked out early Saturday morning for fear of attack. Tbilisi's airport and the state chancellery, as well as two government ministries, were evacuated as a precaution, according to Temur Yakobashvili, the minister for reintegration.

In an interview, Yakobashvili said: "Russia has to stop harassing its neighbors and attacking its neighbors. . . . And if not, the next will be Ukraine, next the Baltic states, and then we will be back in the Soviet Union."

Staff writers William Branigin and Karen DeYoung in Washington and Colum Lynch at the United Nations and special correspondent Joyce Barrett in Tbilisi contributed to this report.



A wounded Georgian woman lies in front of an apartment building, damaged by a Russian air strike, in the northern Georgian town of Gori, on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008. Fighting raged in breakaway South Ossetia for a second day Saturday as Russia sent hundreds of troops into the separatist province, threatening to bomb more Georgian military bases to stop the bloodshed Moscow said has claimed 1,500 lives. Georgia, a staunch U.S. ally, launched a major offensive Friday to retake control of separatist South Ossetia. Russia, which has close ties to the province and posts peacekeepers there to protect citizens with Russian citizenship, responded by sending in armed convoys. (AP Photo/George Abdaladze)

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OUTSIDE TSKHINVALI, Georgia (AP) — Russian tanks and troops rumbled into the separatist province of South Ossetia and Russian aircraft bombed a Georgian town Saturday in a major escalation of the conflict that has left hundreds of civilians dead and wounded. Russia, which has close ties to the province and posts peacekeepers there, sent in the armed convoys and combat aircraft to prevent Georgia from retaking control of its breakaway region. The military convoys included volunteers from around Russia's North Caucasus.

Georgia

Georgia is of vital strategic interest to Russia and the west, because it sits in the path of potentially lucrative oil routes. By early 2003 it appeared that the political situation in Georgia had stabilized after years of civil strife. It had a leader, President Shevardnadze, who commanded support from home and had a high profile abroad. Georgia had friendly relations with all of its neighbors - rare in a region torn with conflict. In addition, it had also been able to institute a series of economic reforms and position itself as a regional trading hub.

Russia has sought to retain a military presence in Georgia. Only recently, and with some reluctance, did it agree to withdraw its troops from the Gudauta base in Abkhazia and from the Vaziani military airfield near Tbilisi -- both by the end of June 2001. Moscow asked for lease renewals on two other Soviet-era bases -- one in Batumi in the Ajaria region, the other in Akhalkalaki in the Javakhetia region. Georgia wanted the two bases vacated by 2004, but Russia wants 15 years to fulfill its pledge to pull out, by 2016.

Shevardnadze periodicly pledged from 1995 through 2001 that Georgia will seek NATO membership in 2005. Russia is strongly opposed to the alliance's eastward expansion, which it sees as a threat to its national security. On 15 March 1999 President Shevardnadze said that NATO expansion will continue but added that it would be premature to speak of Georgia's possible entry to the alliance before Tbilisi establishes a "new model" for relations with Russia. In May 1999 Shevardnadze predicted that Georgia would not join NATO, even if he is re-elected in 2000 for a second five-year term. Shevardnadze admitted that Georgia was currently incapable of meeting membership requirements. However, in October 1999 Shevardnadze stated that if he was re-elected president in 2000, Georgia would campaign vigorously for NATO membership.

Stability in Georgia has been a recent phenomenon, and several underlying problems remained. These boiled over in late 2003.

Regional ethnic distribution is a major cause of the problems Georgia faces along its borders and within its territory. Under Soviet rule, a large part of Georgian territory was divided into autonomous regions that included concentrations of non-Georgian peoples. Russians, who make up the third largest ethnic group in the country (6.7 percent of the total population in 1989), do not constitute a majority in any district. The highest concentration of Russians is in Abkhazia.

Georgian government has no effective control over Abkhazia or much of South Ossetia. The Georgian state is highly centralized, except for the autonomous regions of Abkhazia and Ajaria, which are to be given special autonomous status once Georgia's territorial integrity is restored. Those regions were subjects of special autonomies during Soviet rule and the legacy of that influence remains. The political status of the breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is unresolved. Sporadic outbreaks of violence continue to erupt in Abkhazia. About 300,000 people displaced by these conflicts have yet to return to home.

As the Soviet Union disintegrated, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the most widely honored and recognized of the nationalist dissidents, moved naturally to a position of leadership. Arguably the most virulently anticommunist politician ever elected in a Soviet republic, Gamsakhurdia was intolerant of all political opposition. He often accused his opposition of treason or involvement with the KGB. After his election as president of Georgia in October 1990, Gamsakhurdia's most immediate concern was the armed opposition. Both Gamsakhurdia's Round Table/Free Georgia coalition and some opposition factions in the Georgian National Congress had informal military units, which the previous, communist Supreme Soviet had legalized under pressure from informal groups. The most formidable of these groups were the Mkhedrioni (horsemen), said to number 5,000 men, and the so-called National Guard. The new parliament, dominated by Gamsakhurdia, outlawed such groups and ordered them to surrender their weapons, but the order had no effect. After the elections, independent military groups raided local police stations and Soviet military installations, sometimes adding formidable weaponry to their arsenals. In February 1991, a Soviet army counterattack against Mkhedrioni headquarters had led to the imprisonment of the Mkhedrioni leader.

Gamsakhurdia moved quickly to assert Georgia's independence from Moscow. Once the Soviet Union collapsed at the end of 1991, Georgia refused to participate in the formation or subsequent activities of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Following its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Georgia suffered from a civil war in 1992 following the overthrow of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, its first democratically elected president. In addition, Georgia was divided by separatist struggles in Abkhazia (northwest Georgia) and South Ossetia (north central Georgia). South Ossetia wants to join with North Ossetia, which is a part of Russia, and Russia has backed both separatist struggles. About 250,000 people were displaced by the civil wars in Georgia.

The UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), consisting of about 115 military observers monitoring the ceasefire lines and a civilian component, was established in 1994 after an accord reached in Moscow ended fighting that had forced nearly 300,000 people to flee.

The Russian-enforced ceasefire in 1994 brought an end to the armed conflict in Abkhazia, and resulted in the permanent stationing of Russian troops in Abkhazia. A Russian peacekeeping force also has been in South Ossetia since 1992. Both Abkhazia and South Ossetia have remained adamant in their separatist demands, and have refused any sort of autonomy that would mean remaining a part of Georgia. Georgia has been striving to reach a peaceful solution with the separatist regions.

The instability in Georgia during the early 1990s led to the postponement of elections until November 1995, when President Shevardnaze and his ruling Union of Georgian Citizens party won the presidential elections with over 70 percent of the vote.

President Shevardnaze narrowly escaped an assassination attempt just prior to the elections on August 29, 1995. The assassination attempt resulted in a crackdown against opposition forces such as the para-military Mkhedrioni (horsemen), led by former ally Saba Joseliani. The 1998 trial of Joseliani and 14 other alleged conspirators was characterized by the same violations of due process found in other recent trials with political overtones. The Government consistently violated due process both during the investigation and the trial. Torture, use of forced confessions, fabricated or planted evidence, denial of legal counsel, and expulsion of defendants from the courtroom took place. In February 1998 between 10 to 15 assailants unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate President Shevardnadze. During the exchange of gunfire, two of his bodyguards and one of the attackers were killed, and four bodyguards were wounded seriously. Both assassination attempts in 1995 and 1998 were reported to have been linked to disputes over construction of oil pipelines through Georgian territory. Moscow is also suspected of being behind the two assassination attempts on President Shevardnadze.

On 19 October 1998 army forces put down a small scale mutiny led by Colonel Akaki Eliava, a supporter of deceased former President Gamsakhurdia. The mutiny resulted in the deaths of one soldier and two mutineers and generated almost no popular support.

Since surviving assassination attempts in August 1995 and February 1998, President Eduard Shevardnadze consolidated his leadership and declared an ambitious reform agenda. Elections on November 5, 1995, described as the freest and fairest in the Caucasus or Central Asia, gave him the presidency and resulted in a progressive parliament led by sophisticated reformers. Since 1998, however, the reform process encountered serious obstacles and made limited progress.

The parliament instituted wideranging political reforms supportive of higher human rights standards, including religious freedoms enshrined in the constitution. Problems persisted, however, largely as a result of the unwillingness of law enforcement and criminal justice officials to support constitutionally mandated rights. Violence against religious minorities and mistreatment of pretrial detainees are significant and continuing problems, as is corruption.

The coup attempt in October 1998 led the chairman of the National Independence Party to call for NATO or the United States to station a military contingent in Georgia to protect Caspian oil transport. In December 1998, representatives from the GUAM Group (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova) held talks about setting up a special peacekeeping force to protect the oil export pipelines. Proposals were made to work with NATO to set up this force within the framework of the Partnership for Peace Program, which was established by NATO to strengthen ties with former Eastern Bloc and former Soviet states.

Renewed fighting in the neighboring Chechnya (Russia) has generated concerns that the conflict will spill over into Georgia. Several thousand Chechen refugees moved into Georgia's Pankisi Gorge in late 1999, adding to the refugee/internally displaced population. The Abkhaz separatist dispute absorbs much of the government's attention. While a cease-fire is in effect, about 300,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who were driven from their homes during the conflict constitute a vocal lobby. The government has offered the region considerable autonomy in order to encourage a settlement, which would allow the IDPs, the majority of whom are ethnic Georgians from the Gali region, to return home, but the Abkhaz insist on independence.

Georgia's long-time leader, Eduard Shevardnadze, was peacefully overthrown in November 2003 following a contested parliamentary election. Georgia's new President Mikheil Saakashvili was innagurated on January 25, 2004, and made promises to tackle Georgia's internal corruption and its endemic poverty.

Russia appears concerned that the US will use its alliance with the Westward-leaning Saakashvili to increase the US presence in the region. Saakashvili tried to placate Russia in speeches but was firm about his insistence on keeping breakaway provinces from seceding to Russia. Saakashvili could weaken separatist elements in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which might discourage Russian intervention.

On 27 September 2006, Georgian-Russian relations deteriorated further when the Georgian government detained four Russian military officers on charges of espionage. Both nations engaged in a back-and-forth series of shows of military and diplomatic force. These included the surrounding of Russia's military headquarters in Georgia, the withdrawal of the Russian diplomats, and reprisal raids against each other's business interests. On 6 October, the Russian Duma ratified a treaty that would guarantee a withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgian territory and assure Russian access to Armenian bases via Georgia. On 29 November, the Georgian and Russian presidents met unofficially in a meeting described as "useful."

Notwithstanding progress on democratization since the Rose Revolution, Georgia has work to do, and the events this past fall marked a setback for democracy in Georgia. Large segments of the Georgian public expressed serious dissatisfaction during protest rallies in September, October, and November, 2007. This dissatisfaction stemmed from a combination of continuing poverty and unemployment, a sense the Georgian government had grown disconnected from certain segments of society, and anger over a political system that seemed to be structured to prevent the development of a vibrant opposition.

On 07 November 2007, Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs forcibly dispersed protestors camped out in the vicinity of Parliament and later that day the government imposed a State of Emergency. In several confrontations that day police clashed with protestors elsewhere in Tbilisi. The U.S. government condemned the imposition of a state of emergency, the closure of the independent Imedi television station, and what appeared to be the use of excessive force by the Georgian government against protestors.

President Saakashvili addressed the crisis by taking an unusual step, calling for a snap presidential election on January 5 that shortened his term by a year. The conduct of the presidential election, in which incumbent President Saakashvili narrowly won a first-round victory, was regarded by OSCE and other observers as an improvement over previous elections, but flawed, and thus did not fully restore Georgia’s democratic reputation. Georgian leaders and citizens will long argue over whether irregularities skewed the outcome of the election.

Georgia has expressed its desire to join NATO, part of its overall effort to join the European and transatlantic family. As it has done so, Georgia has been subjected to unremitting and dangerous pressure from Russia, including over the separatist regions of Abkhazia and, to a lesser degree, South Ossetia. Georgian political mistakes in the early 1990s led to conflicts in these regions, and the separatists, with Russian military support, won.

Russia suggested that a Kosovo solution involving independence will constitute a precedent leading to the recognition of the independence of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria. Abkhazia and South Ossetia remained potential flashpoints even if Russia in response to Western recognition of Kosovo did not follow through with its implicit threat to recognize the two regions as independent.

Moscow has intensified political pressure by taking a number of concrete steps toward a de facto official relationship with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where Russian peacekeeping forces have been deployed since the early 1990s – up to 3,000 in Abkhazia, and 500 Russians plus 500 North Ossetians in South Ossetia. In March 2008, Russia announced its unilateral withdrawal from Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) sanctions on Abkhazia, which would allow Russia potentially to provide direct military assistance (though the Russian government has offered assurances that it will continue to adhere to military sanctions). On 16 April 2008, then-President Putin issued instructions calling for closer ties between Russian ministries and their Abkhaz and South Ossetian counterparts.

Moscow also was making more use of its strengthened armed forces. A growing number of exercises with foreign militaries and an increased operational tempo in the North Caucasus Military District, often focusing on potential Georgian contingencies, were designed primarily to demonstrate regional dominance and discourage outside interference. Russia’s North Caucasian Military District (SKVO) was ready to provide assistance to Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia and South Ossetia if needed, a Russian military commander said on 10 July 2008. “The major tasks for SKVO in the event of an escalation or the launch of combat action between the conflicting sides are: the provision of assistance to the peacekeeping troops so as to separate the forces of the conflicting sides; the provision of humanitarian assistance to the population residing in the conflict zones,” RIA Novosti news agency quoted Colonel General Sergey Makarov, the commander of SKVO, as saying. He said that recent military exercise involving SKVO units aimed at “working out actions” required in the event of a flare-up in tensions in the Georgian conflict zones.

The increase of Russian pressure against Georgia comes in the context of Georgia’s transatlantic aspirations, particularly its attempt to secure a Membership Action Plan (MAP) from NATO. The United States and most NATO members strongly supported a MAP for both Georgia and Ukraine at the April 2008 NATO Summit in Bucharest. Although there was no consensus at Bucharest for a MAP invitation, NATO’s leaders stated flatly in the final communiqué from the summit that Georgia and Ukraine will become members.