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Georgia, Washington and Moscow: a Nuclear Geopolitical Poker Game

8th August

JAVA, Georgia (AFP) – Russian tanks and troops entered Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia province on Friday to repel a Georgian military offensive to reclaim the region amid fighting said to have left hundreds dead.

Moscow vowed retaliation to defend Russians in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali hit by the Georgian artillery and air assault — the worst fighting since the 1992-94 separatist war in the region.

Amid spiralling tensions that the main European security watchdog warned were heading for “all out war”, the Georgian government acknowledged it was already losing newly won areas of Tskhinvali that were bombarded by Russian forces.

South Ossetian separatist leader Eduard Kokoity said hundreds of civilians have been killed in the fighting and the international Red Cross said Tskhinvali hospitals were overflowing with casualties.

“If this is not war, then I wonder what is,” Georgia’s ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) was quoted as telling a special meeting of the organisation’s permanent council in Vienna.

The European Union, NATO and United States all called for a halt to hostilities. The UN Security Council was to meet again after failing to agree a similar statement.

South Ossetia broke from Georgia in the early 1990s and has since been a constant source of friction between Georgia and Russia.

 

Map of Georgia showing the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
©AFP Graphic

The Tblisi government accuses Moscow of wanting to take over the province, and launched its new assault in an apparent bid to stamp its authority on South Ossetia.

During the night, an AFP reporter saw Georgian forces fire more than a dozen missiles towards South Ossetia from inside Georgia and witnessed helicopters and hundreds of soldiers in trucks moving towards the region.

The Russian military said more than 10 Russian peacekeepers had been killed in Tskhinvali when Georgian shells hit their barracks, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.

“As a result of the hours-long shelling of Tskhinvali by heavy weaponry, the city is almost totally destroyed,” General Marat Kulakhmetov, commander of Russian peacekeeping forces, was quoted as saying by Interfax.

In response, Russia sent dozens of tanks and troop carriers to the South Ossetia border and the defence ministry in Moscow confirmed that “reinforcements” had been sent into the province.

“We cannot allow the deaths of our countrymen to go unpunished. The guilty parties will receive the punishment they deserve,” Russia President Dmitry Medvedev said earlier.

“They have in effect begun hostilities using tanks and artillery,” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in Beijing where he attended the Olympics opening ceremony. “It is sad, but this will provoke retaliatory measures.”

 

Georgia accuses Russia of seeking to take over South Ossetia
©AFP – Vano Shlamov

Dozens of wounded Georgian soldiers arrived at the military hospital in the Georgian city of Gori, returning from the offensive.

An AFP reporter saw trucks arriving every 30 seconds on Friday afternoon, each carrying up to five wounded soldiers — many unconscious and bleeding — as ambulances raced back to the front line for more.

Georgian soldiers speaking under condition of anonymity said they had come under heavy fire from Russian aircraft after surrounding Tskhinvali.

“Russian armed forces are bombarding Tskhinvali,” Georgian Interior Ministry pokesman, Shota Utiashvili, told AFP. “We have lost control over some parts of the city,” he added.

Georgia said it had shot down five Russian jets and that Russian aircraft had attacked a military base near Tbilisi. Russia denied it had lost any planes or that it had staged operations in Georgia.

Georgia’s National Security Council warned there would be “a state of war” between the two countries if Russia entered South Ossetia.

President Mikheil Saakashvili warned of “large-scale military intervention” and called for a mass mobilisation.

 

Russian peacekeepers guard at the South Ossetian border
©AFP – Vano Shlamov

“We are a freedom-loving nation right now under attack,” he said.

Georgia’s Foreign Minister Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili told the BBC that Tbilisi was appealing to world leaders to press Moscow to stop “direct military aggression” on its territory.

The International Committee of the Red Cross called for a “humanitarian corridor” to be opened in South Ossetia to allow ambulances to evacuate the wounded.

“Ambulances cannot move, hospitals are reported to be overflowing, surgery is taking place in corridors,” an ICRC spokeswoman told journalists in Geneva.

People are sheltering in their basements with no electricity or access to communications, she added.

“This morning, a UNHCR staff member reported that many buildings and houses have been destroyed and that only military personnel are moving on the streets,” spokesman Ron Redmond said.

“Water is also in short supply — a chronic problem, worsened by recent events — most transport has stopped and shops are running out of food,” he added.

The OSCE’s chairman, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, said the fighting in South Ossetia “risks escalation into a full-fledged war.”

 

Georgian troops
©AFP – Vano Shlamov

The United States said its 100 military trainers in Georgia were not involved in the conflict and that it was sending an envoy to South Ossetia to join international mediation efforts. It joined the European Union, NATO and a host of world powers calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Putin said he had discussed the crisis with Chinese leaders and with US President George W. Bush. “Everybody agrees — nobody wants to see a war.”

In recent months, Moscow and Tbilisi have sparred repeatedly over South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia.