Pledging to Leave Georgia, Russia Instead Tightens Grip

Even as Russia pledged to begin withdrawing its forces from neighboring Georgia on Monday, American officials said the Russian military had been moving launchers for short-range ballistic missiles into South Ossetia, a step that appeared intended to tighten its hold on the breakaway territory.
The Russian military deployed several SS-21 missile launchers and supply vehicles to South Ossetia on Friday, according to American officials familiar with intelligence reports. From the new launching positions north of Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, the missiles can reach much of Georgia, including Tbilisi, the capital.

The Kremlin announced Sunday that Russia’s president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, had promised to begin the troop withdrawal in a conversation with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who negotiated a six-point cease-fire agreement. Mr. Medvedev did not specify the pace or scope of the withdrawal, saying only that troops would withdraw to South Ossetia and a so-called security zone on its periphery.

The United States and European leaders reacted with wariness, and Russia’s recent military moves appeared to add an element of frustration.

“Well, I just know that the Russian president said several days ago Russian military operations would stop. They didn’t,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “This time I hope he means it. You know the word of the Russian president needs to be upheld by his forces.”

Russia’s efforts to strengthen its military position in the region have important political and military implications. American officials have demanded that Russian troops pull back from their positions inside Georgia and that the Russian military presence in the enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia be limited to the Russian peacekeeping force that was there before the conflict erupted earlier this month. Ultimately, American officials say, the Russian peacekeepers themselves should be replaced by a neutral, international peacekeeping force.

But instead of thinning out their forces in South Ossetia, the Russians appear to have been consolidating their presence there by deploying SS-21 missile launchers and, American officials say, by installing surface-to-air missiles near their military headquarters in Tskhinvali. Such moves appear to buttress assertions last week by Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, that South Ossetia and Abkhazia are to be separated from Georgia.

Western officials have also been monitoring Russian troop movements, which may be intended to strengthen Russian forces in and around Georgia. A battalion from Russia’s 76th Guards Airborne Division has been deployed from Pskov to Beslan, a city in North Ossetia. Several additional battalions from the 98th Guards Airborne Division at Kostroma also appeared to have been preparing over the weekend for possible deployment to the Caucasus region.

Beyond South Ossetia, the Russian military has taken other steps to raise its profile. In recent days, several Bear-H bombers have carried out training missions over the Black Sea, according to American officials familiar with intelligence reports. The Russian bombers are capable of carrying nonnuclear cruise missiles, and government intelligence analysts have told the Pentagon that a recent Bear training flight appeared to simulate a cruise-missile attack against Georgia.

The Russian moves are seen at the Pentagon as a way for Russia to show that it considers its sphere of influence to include Georgia and other parts of the so-called near abroad zones — Belarus, Ukraine, the Caucasus and the Caspian — close to Russian territory. In general, the actions are seen as a matter of muscle flexing, or “force projection,” in Pentagon parlance, and are not viewed as signs that Russia intends to make a major military push to take Tbilisi.

Russian officials may also be calculating that their nation’s military presence may make some NATO members more skeptical toward accepting Georgia into the alliance. While the United States has strongly supported Georgia’s membership, some allied officials fear they may be dragged into a war in the Caucasus if Georgia is admitted.

Concerns over the military tensions in the region may already have influenced some neighbors. American officials said Turkish officials had denied the United States’ request that an American Navy hospital ship, the Comfort, be allowed to travel through the Turkish straits en route to Georgia. A Bush administration official, who asked not to be identified because of the delicacy of the diplomatic discussions, expressed hope that American officials would eventually persuade the Turks to let the ship pass.

The conflict began Aug. 7 when Georgian troops entered the breakaway region of South Ossetia, which has strong ties to Russia, and Russia responded by sending its own troops deep into Georgian territory. The Kremlin has said Georgia provoked the conflict in South Ossetia, whose populace is hostile to Georgia, and Russian officials have referred to Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president, as a war criminal. Mr. Saakashvili has contended that Russia is determined to turn Georgia into the kind of vassal state that existed during Soviet times.

Though Mr. Medvedev announced the end of hostilities last Wednesday, Russian troops have remained in the central city of Gori, which is 40 miles from Tbilisi, and they continue to occupy wide swaths of territory. On Sunday, Western leaders pressed, with increasing unanimity, for Russia to withdraw. Mr. Sarkozy said there would be “serious consequences” for relations between Russia and the European Union if Russian compliance was not “rapid and complete.”

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Tbilisi to meet with Mr. Saakashvili, warned that “this process should not drag out for weeks.” Ms. Merkel also reiterated her support for Georgia’s eventual membership in NATO, a step Russia has fiercely opposed.

The deployment of SS-21 missile launchers to South Ossetia has added to the United States’ concerns. The SS-21 is a short-range ballistic missile carried on a mobile launcher. It can be used to attack command posts and airfield and troop concentrations. Russian forces used the missile in the Chechnya conflict, where it was believed to have caused significant civilian casualties.

James F. Jeffrey, the American deputy national security adviser, told reporters this month that President Bush was informed on Aug. 8 that two SS-21s had been fired into Georgia. He said Mr. Bush “immediately” met with Russia’s prime minister, Vladimir V. Putin, who was also attending the Olympics in Beijing, to express concern over the Russian military actions. Fragments of an SS-21 missile have been found near a police station in the port city of Poti. The rocket struck a police vehicle in front of the station.

But those missiles were fired from Russian territory, an American official said Sunday. In recent days, the official said, SS-21 missile launchers, as well as supply vehicles, have driven south through the Roki Tunnel into South Ossetia and been deployed on an elevated area about 10 miles north of Tskhinvali. That would put them within range of much of Georgia, including Kutaisi, Georgia’s second-largest city, and Tbilisi itself, adding to Russia’s ability to intimidate.

The original cease-fire agreement has been shuttled between Moscow and Tbilisi several times as changes were requested by the Russian and Georgian leaders, who do not disguise their mutual contempt. Among the points left unclear is how far Russian troops will draw back. Under the agreement, Russians have claimed a broad mandate to back up peacekeeping operations both in and out of the conflict zone.

Mr. Medvedev said Sunday that Russian troops would pull back to a security zone established in 1999 by the Joint Control Commission, an international body created to monitor seething tensions between ethnic Georgians and Ossetians. The commission designated a “conflict zone” of about nine miles around Tskhinvali, as well as a long “security corridor,” which extends about eight miles into Georgian-held areas.

Georgia’s foreign minister, Eka Tkeshelashvili, said the current form of the document limits Russian military operations to no more than about nine miles from the border of South Ossetia; prohibits Russian troops from entering urban areas or blocking roads; allows only patrols, as opposed to checkpoints; and would be prohibited as soon as international peacekeepers arrived.

Despite the Kremlin’s pledge of a pullout from Georgia, long lines of Russian military vehicles snaked south on Sunday along the main road from Tskhinvali to Gori in South Ossetia. Large transport trucks carrying power generators, troops, bags of potatoes, chairs and tables wound their way through the villages. A reporter driving south on the road passed lines of vehicles for nearly 40 minutes.

While the Russians have accused Georgian forces of killing many civilians in South Ossetia, it has not been possible for outsiders to corroborate those claims. Nor has it been possible to corroborate Georgian assertions that South Ossetians were purging Georgian villages in “ethnic cleansing” reprisals, although refugees have described a campaign of violence and looting, and tours along the main road show villages with as many as 90 percent of the buildings burned.

The president of South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoity, may have implicated himself in the forced expulsion of Georgians by asserting that they would not be allowed back. Russia’s Foreign Ministry quickly sought on Sunday to minimize the significance of his remark, calling it “an emotional statement made under the influence of the situation resulting from the massive armed attack organized by the Georgian leadership against South Ossetia.”

Georgia accuses Russia of cutting rail line, starting fires

TBILISI, Georgia (CNN) -- Georgia accused the Russian army of destroying a key railway bridge Saturday and starting massive fires in the scenic Borjomi Gorge, in violation of a new cease-fire agreement between the two countries.

A senior Russian military official denied the allegation.

Georgia's Interior Ministry also said Saturday that Russian-backed militia members have seized control of 13 Georgian villages and a power plant in the region.

The claim could not be immediately confirmed by CNN.

The ministry told CNN that the villages and the plant -- all previously controlled by Georgia -- fall within the borders of the separatist territory of Abkhazia. Officials at the Foreign Ministry initially suspected that the move was a Russian attempt to expand Abkhazia's border with Georgia but later backed off that statement, saying the border remained intact.

Fighting that began last week has died down. However, Russian forces remained within 25 miles (40 kilometers) of Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, on Saturday and were on the western front around the breakaway province of Abkhazia, according to CNN's Frederik Pleitgen.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that the agreement calls for the "immediate withdrawal" of Russian troops from its neighbor's sovereign territory, but CNN correspondents reported significant Russian troop movements Saturday.

When asked about those reports, Rice responded Saturday, "The Russians perhaps are already not honoring their word."

However, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Saturday that the cease-fire seems to be holding. There don't seem to be any aggressive Russian actions occurring, he said.

A senior Russian military official said the bridges "were the objects we tackled" during last week's fighting with Georgia. He said the allegations of Russia still attacking Georgia are "a hoax."

"Our work is devoted to peacekeeping problems," said Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of staff of Russian Armed Forces.

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said troops will not completely withdraw from Georgian territory until they have finished cleaning up ammunition, weapons and booby traps left behind by Georgian forces.

Russian soldiers are "completing security operations," spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said Saturday.

The Georgia government expressed outrage over destruction of the bridge and the forest fires. It was not immediately known how much acreage the blazes covered, but the rubble and twisted metal from the Metekhi-Grakali bridge could be seen in video footage.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Russian soldiers "mined and exploded" the bridge in the Kaspi District in east-central Georgia.

The bridge provided a major route between Tbilisi and Georgian port of Poti.

"This subversive terrorist act resulted in the severing of railway links between the east and west of Georgia and connections with Georgia's seaports," the ministry said in a statement.

"Moreover, the bridge used to provide a route for refugees from the Russian-occupied territories into safe places. Russia is pursuing deliberate policy aimed at undermining Georgia's statehood, including through bringing about humanitarian catastrophe."

The gorge, a scenic canyon whose springs produce the country's popular bottled mineral water, is in central Georgia's Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, one of Europe's largest.

"Russian military helicopters started bombing the bordering territories of the city of Borjomi and settlement of Tsemi using incendiary munitions," the ministry said on its Web site.

The ministry said Georgia asked Turkey for help in fighting the fires but that Russian air patrols kept the firefighters from reaching the park.

CNN's Michael Ware, stationed outside Gori, said there were no outward signs in the devastated Georgian city that the Russians were leaving. Armored vehicles remained in place, he added.

The Russians have set up checkpoints at strategic places, CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reported, and these have made it difficult for aid organizations such as UNICEF, which has been trying to organize convoys to deliver aid.

Without mentioning any acts of Russian violence, President Bush warned Saturday, "Russia has put its aspirations at risk."

"Russia needs to honor the agreement and withdraw its forces and of course end military operations," he said from his ranch near Crawford, Texas, with Rice at his side.

Gordon Johndroe, U.S. National Security Council spokesman, said Bush conferred with Canada's prime minister and Latvia's president Saturday on the situation in Georgia.

Earlier Saturday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the cease-fire plan designed to end the military conflict with Georgia, his office said.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili signed the agreement Friday. Watch more on the cease-fire »

The conflict began late last week, when Georgia launched a military incursion into South Ossetia to rout separatist rebels.

Russia -- which supports the separatists, many of whom claim Russian citizenship -- has peacekeeping responsibilities for the region and responded by sending tanks into the province for what it said was peace enforcement. From there the violence spread into Georgia and Abkhazia.

Under the cease-fire, about 1,500 Russian peacekeepers are allowed to remain and can do patrols a short distance outside the "zone of conflict," a reference to South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

They are not permitted to patrol in Gori and other Georgian cities and cannot hamper aid distribution or control ports, highways or railroads, officials said.

It is unclear how many people have been killed in the conflict, but various claims put the figure in the thousands.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Friday that it estimated the fighting has displaced more than 118,000 people, citing statistics from the Russian and Georgian governments.

Georgian troops leave Abkhazia, Russians in Gori

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - A top Georgian official says his country's troops have completely left the separatist province of Abkhazia. The head of Georgia's national security council is saying that 50 Russian tanks have entered the strategic Georgian city of Gori.
Temur Yakobashvili, the Cabinet minister for reintegration, said Wednesday that the troops had been driven out by Russian forces from the small part of Abkhazia they had held.

A Russian general on Tuesday said the Georgians had been driven out but by separatist forces and not the Russian military.

Georgia and Russia have agreed to a cease-fire that calls for both country's forces to pull back to positions they held before fighting broke out last week over the separatist region of South Ossetia. It was unclear how long that repositioning could take.

Georgia and Russia agree on truce

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has agreed an outline plan with Russia and Georgia to try to resolve their crisis.

A key element calls for all forces to return to the areas where they were before fighting broke out last week.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili suggested some details were unacceptable and the French mediator admitted difficulties lay ahead.

Earlier, Russia announced its military activity in the area was completed and witnesses saw troops pulling out.

The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in Georgia says fighting in the South Ossetia region does now seem to have ended.

But despite the diplomacy and apparent withdrawal, rhetoric on both sides remained fiery and analysts were predicting a long road to peace.

Fighting flared last Thursday night when Georgia sent its army to regain control of South Ossetia - a region nominally part of Georgia, but with de facto independence and where a majority of people hold Russian passports.

Russia moved in forcefully, sending troops into South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway province. Georgian towns away from the two regions were also bombed.

Some 100,000 people are estimated to have been displaced by the conflict, which has created huge tensions in international relations.

The US says it is cancelling an annual joint naval exercise with Russia, scheduled for the end of this week in the Sea of Japan.

"In the wake of this conflict, there is no way that we can proceed with this joint exercise at this time," a US official told news agencies.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned that Russia was "frankly... doing great damage" to its prospects for integrating into international organisations.

In a reference to the Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslovakia, she said Moscow's behaviour belonged to "another time".

"We are not in 1968 and the message has been very clear to Russia that it cannot operate that way," she told the US channel ABC News.

EU meeting

Mr Sarkozy, in his current role as EU president, held talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow for most of Tuesday before flying to Tbilisi.

He held news conferences with both Mr Medvedev and Mr Saakashvili - with all three leaders saying they had agreed in principle to a five-point plan.

A sixth point in the plan, about holding international discussions on the future status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, was deleted with the agreement of President Medvedev, Mr Sarkozy and Mr Saakashvili said.

"The territorial integrity and belonging of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to Georgia can never be put under doubt," the Georgian leader said.

Mr Sarkozy said the document would be looked over by EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Wednesday before being submitted to the UN Security Council.


'Heartless destruction'

Earlier, Mr Medvedev called Georgian troops "thugs [Russian: otmorozki]" driven by a blood lust, and accused President Mikhail Saakashvili of lying over a previous ceasefire agreement.

And tens of thousands of Georgians gathered in Tbilisi's main square to hear Mr Saakashvili claim that Russia was continuing its "ruthless, heartless destruction" of Georgian citizens.

Neither side's claims could be verified.

Many issues remain that are likely to hamper peace negotiations.

Separatist rebels are continuing to fight Georgian troops in the Kodori Gorge region of Abkhazia - the only area of Abkhazia still under Georgian military control.

Georgia has meanwhile filed several complaints with international bodies over Russia's actions - including one at the International Court of Justice alleging ethnic cleansing.

Mr Saakashvili told crowds in Tbilisi that Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia would now be regarded as an occupying army - ending an agreement in place since 1994.

And he also said Georgia would leave the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) - a Moscow-dominated group that includes most of the former Soviet republics.

Yushchenko and Saakashvili become a member of NATO

Did McCain Plagiarize His Speech on the Georgia Crisis?

A Wikipedia editor emailed Political Wire to point out some similarities between Sen. John McCain's speech today on the crisis in Georgia and the Wikipedia article on the country Georgia. Given the closeness of the words and sentence structure, most would consider parts of McCain's speech to be derived directly from Wikipedia.

First instance:


one of the first countries in the world to adopt Christianity as an official religion (Wikipedia)

vs.

one of the world's first nations to adopt Christianity as an official religion (McCain)


Second instance:


After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia had a brief period of independence as a Democratic Republic (1918-1921), which was terminated by the Red Army invasion of Georgia. Georgia became part of the Soviet Union in 1922 and regained its independence in 1991. Early post-Soviet years was marked by a civil unrest and economic crisis. (Wikipedia)

vs.

After a brief period of independence following the Russian revolution, the Red Army forced Georgia to join the Soviet Union in 1922. As the Soviet Union crumbled at the end of the Cold War, Georgia regained its independence in 1991, but its early years were marked by instability, corruption, and economic crises. (McCain)


Third instance:


In 2003, Shevardnadze (who won reelection in 2000) was deposed by the Rose Revolution, after Georgian opposition and international monitors asserted that the 2 November parliamentary elections were marred by fraud. The revolution was led by Mikheil Saakashvili, Zurab Zhvania and Nino Burjanadze, former members and leaders of Shavarnadze's ruling party. Mikheil Saakashvili was elected as President of Georgia in 2004. Following the Rose Revolution, a series of reforms was launched to strengthen the country's military and economic capabilities. (Wikipedia)

vs.

Following fraudulent parliamentary elections in 2003, a peaceful, democratic revolution took place, led by the U.S.-educated lawyer Mikheil Saakashvili. The Rose Revolution changed things dramatically and, following his election, President Saakashvili embarked on a series of wide-ranging and successful reforms. (McCain)


Granted the third instance isn't as close as the first two, which seem quite obviously taken from Wikipedia.

It should be noted that Wikipedia material can be freely used but always requires attribution under its terms of use. Whether a presidential candidate should base policy speeches on material from Wikipedia is another question entirely.

See also: Dan Conley on how the candidates are reacting to the crisis in Georgia.

Obama moves closer to McCain on Russia stance

Barack Obama moved closer to John McCain’s tough position regarding the military conflict in Georgia on Monday, issuing a statement from Hawaii scolding Russia for the intensifying violence in the conflict.

“No matter how this conflict started, Russia has escalated it well beyond the dispute over South Ossetia and invaded another country,” Obama said in a statement distributed by his campaign. “Russia has escalated its military campaign through strategic bombing and the movement of its ground forces into the heart of Georgia. There is no possible justification for these attacks.”

The comments marked a departure from Obama’s initial statement on the conflict, released Friday, which avoided chiding Russia directly and urged restraint from both nations. He released a sterner statement the following day condemning Russian aggression.

Today, he focused his criticism squarely on the Kremlin, a posture first taken by McCain four days ago, as the conflict began.


Obama urged Russia to agree to a cease-fire and withdraw all troops from Georgian territory, and called for a non-Russian international peacekeeping force, along with a U.N. resolution rejecting Moscow’s actions – all demands put forth by McCain last week.

Still, the Democrat’s statement featured a note of optimism about Russian-U.S. relations: “Let me be clear: we seek a future of cooperative engagement with the Russian government, and friendship with the Russian people,” Obama said in the statement.

“We want Russia to play its rightful role as a great nation — but with that role comes the responsibility to act as a force for progress in this new century, not regression to the conflicts of the past.”

Meanwhile, on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania, McCain amplified his rhetoric against Russia in a Monday morning statement to reporters.

“Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin must understand the severe, long-term negative consequences that their government’s actions will have for Russia’s relationship with the U.S. and Europe,” McCain said.

saakashvili

Russia slams French resolution urging Georgia peace

Russia on Monday dismissed as unacceptable a French draft resolution calling for a ceasefire in Georgia that was due to reach the U.N. Security Council soon, while Tbilisi said it faced a Russian invasion.

Speaking to reporters after the council's fifth emergency session on the Georgian conflict in as many days, French Deputy Ambassador Jean-Pierre Lacroix said the resolution was based on a three-point plan French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office revealed in Paris over the weekend.

He said the French plan called for the immediate cessation of hostilities in the former Soviet republic, withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, respect for Georgian territorial integrity and access to victims in need of humanitarian aid.

"We had a favorable reaction from the Georgian side and we hope there will be an equally favorable ... reaction from the Russian side," Lacroix said after the two-hour meeting.

But Russia, a permanent council member with the power to veto any resolution, made clear the current draft was unacceptable to Moscow.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the draft was deficient in a number of areas. In particular, it contained "no reference to Georgian aggression or Georgian atrocities."

"I cannot see us accepting this draft of a resolution," he said, adding he hoped it would be revised to make it palatable to Moscow.

Russia accused Georgia of "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide" after the Georgian military launched an operation on Thursday to return the separatist region South Ossetia, a small pro-Moscow province, to the control of the Tbilisi government.

Georgia has in turn accused Russia of "ethnic cleansing" and says Moscow wants to "exterminate" the Georgian people and oust President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Churkin said the Russians were in the process of gathering evidence to support their accusations of genocide.

THE PRICE OF GOOD RELATIONS

Georgian envoy Irakli Alasania said he hoped the French resolution would be adopted by the council and accused Russia of trying to "subdue and crush a young democracy."

The United States originally wanted to condemn what it says was Russia's unwarranted "military assault" on Georgia, but diplomats said the French and other Europeans wanted to avoid language that was certain to provoke a Russian veto.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said he supported the French draft, even though it fails to condemn Moscow.

U.S. President George W. Bush said it was time for Russia to reverse its course in Georgia. Khalilzad was asked what would happen if Moscow ignored Bush's appeal.

"There is of course a variety of other measures, political or economic," he said without elaborating. But he added that Washington does not want "hostile relations" with Russia.

Churkin said Russia also wanted good ties with Washington but not at the cost of letting Georgians kill innocent South Ossetians, most of whom have Russian passports, or people in another Georgian breakaway enclave, Abkhazia.

"Do we have to pay this kind of a price for good relations with the United States?" he asked.

The French were expected to circulate their draft to the full 15-nation council shortly. They hoped to put it to a vote on Tuesday though it was possible the vote would be pushed back to allow time for negotiations with the Russians. (Additional reporting by Patrick Worsnip, editing by Todd Eastham)

White House: Russia risking relations with US

BEIJING (AP) — The Bush administration is warning Russia to halt its attacks on Georgia or risk "significant" and enduring damage to its relationship with the United States.

Russia expanded its bombing blitz Sunday against neighboring U.S.-allied Georgia, targeting the country's capital for the first time. Georgian troops pulled out of the capital of the contested province of South Ossetia under heavy Russian shelling.

The U.S. has called on Russia to stop its military offensive.

Jim Jeffrey, President Bush's deputy national security adviser, says the U.S. has made it clear that "If the disproportionate and dangerous escalation on the Russian side continues, that this will have a significant long-term impact on U.S.-Russian relations."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j3b6xoPSXQAc5AoJwqPQit9OtitgD92FBMSO0

Georgia pulls troops from South Ossetia-official

TBILISI, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Georgia has withdrawn its forces from breakaway South Ossetia, where they had been fighting Russian troops for control of the separatist capital Tskhinvali, the Georgian interior ministry said on Sunday.

"They have been withdrawn, completely," ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told Reuters.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LA653684.htm