14:15
Russian forces again seized the Georgian coast guard base in Poti this morning, the Georgian Border Police, said on August 15.
It said 23 Ural trucks of the Russian forces and two armored vehicles were deployed on the base territory. Two Russian army helicopters have also landed there, the Georgia Border Police, said.
The Russian forces entered in and then pulled back from Poti for several times in last several days.
On August 13 the Russian forces quit the area after sinking Georgia’s four coast guard vessels in Poti. The coast guard’s base administrative building in Poti was also raided and equipment destroyed there, the Border Police said.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Russia Fired Iskander Missiles to Georgian Towns
14:13
Russia used Iskander short range, earth-to-earth, missiles to target at least three locations in Georgia, the country’s Interior Ministry, said on August 14.
The missiles were used to target port of Poti, town of Gori, Shota Utiashvili, the Interior Ministry spokesman said. He also claimed that the area close to the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline was also targeted with the same missile.
“These are all civilian targets and not the military installations,” he said.
Russia used Iskander short range, earth-to-earth, missiles to target at least three locations in Georgia, the country’s Interior Ministry, said on August 14.
The missiles were used to target port of Poti, town of Gori, Shota Utiashvili, the Interior Ministry spokesman said. He also claimed that the area close to the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline was also targeted with the same missile.
“These are all civilian targets and not the military installations,” he said.
Cluster Bombs Used by Russia in Georgian Towns
11:20
Human Rights Watch said on August 15 its researchers had uncovered evidence that Russian aircraft dropped cluster bombs in populated areas in Georgia, killing at least 11 civilians and injuring dozens.
Russian aircraft dropped RBK-250 cluster bombs on the village of Ruisi in the Kareli district of Georgia on August 12, killing three civilians, it said.
On the same day, a cluster strike in the center of the town of Gori killed at least eight civilians, including a Dutch journalist and injured dozens, according to HRW.
“Cluster bombs are indiscriminate killers that most nations have agreed to outlaw,” Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at HRW, said. “Russia’s use of this weapon is not only deadly to civilians, but also an insult to international efforts to avoid a global humanitarian disaster of the kind caused by landmines.”
Human Rights Watch said on August 15 its researchers had uncovered evidence that Russian aircraft dropped cluster bombs in populated areas in Georgia, killing at least 11 civilians and injuring dozens.
Russian aircraft dropped RBK-250 cluster bombs on the village of Ruisi in the Kareli district of Georgia on August 12, killing three civilians, it said.
On the same day, a cluster strike in the center of the town of Gori killed at least eight civilians, including a Dutch journalist and injured dozens, according to HRW.
“Cluster bombs are indiscriminate killers that most nations have agreed to outlaw,” Marc Garlasco, senior military analyst at HRW, said. “Russia’s use of this weapon is not only deadly to civilians, but also an insult to international efforts to avoid a global humanitarian disaster of the kind caused by landmines.”
Russian Troops Continue Presence in Gori
10:50
The Russian forces, which control Gori, continue refusing to allow the Georgian police units inside the town.
Russian armored vehicles are blocking the entrance of the town are continue controlling the major highway linking Georgia’s east with the west of the country.
Alexandre Lomaia, the secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council, told journalists on Friday morning that it was stable. He in negotiating with the Russian command in the town terms of the town hand over, but details remain unclear.
The Russian forces, which control Gori, continue refusing to allow the Georgian police units inside the town.
Russian armored vehicles are blocking the entrance of the town are continue controlling the major highway linking Georgia’s east with the west of the country.
Alexandre Lomaia, the secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council, told journalists on Friday morning that it was stable. He in negotiating with the Russian command in the town terms of the town hand over, but details remain unclear.
Saakashvili: Russia Wants to Impose ‘Munich-Type of Deal’ on Georgia
05:01
President Saakashvili said Russia was blackmailing Georgia through military and diplomatic maneuvering to force it accept “a Munich-type of deal” – a reference to the 1938 treaty that allowed Nazi Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia.
In a statement made for a group of foreign journalists on August 14, Saakashvili said the deal would mean Georgia abandoning its drive to restore territorial integrity and amount to legalizing Russian troops’ presence on the Georgian soil. He did not give further details.
Saakashvili said “one-third of Georgia’s territory” was under the Russian occupation and the Russian tanks were rolling back and forth trying to mount pressure on the Georgian authorities.
Despite the August 13 agreement between the Russian military commander on the ground and the Georgian officials, town of Gori remained under the Russian forces’ control and the Georgian security and police forces were standing outside the town all day long waiting for the town hand over. But there were no signs of Russians retreating.
“We are planning it [withdrawal as part of the ceasefire deal],” Anatoly Nogovitsin, Russia's deputy chief of staff, told reporters in Moscow on August 14. “It depends on many factors. I can't give you the date. We have stopped building up troops.”
Also on August 14 Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev med with secessionist leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Sergey Bagapsh and Eduard Kokoity, respectively, in Moscow. The two secessionist leaders signed a six-point agreement.
Russia’s UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said “Presidents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia” had already subscribed to the, as he called it, “Medvedev-Sarkozy plan” and “the only missing thing is the Georgian side.”
And Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said it bluntly that he thought there was no way that those two regions would accept to be part of Georgia after what had happened.
Meanwhile in the United States, Secretary of Defense Gates called a special news conference jointly with Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright on the situation in Georgia and then President Bush reiterated his support for Georgia’s territorial integrity after he was briefed on situation in Georgia by CIA chief.
The Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, is expected to arrive in Tbilisi on August 15, after travailing to France.
“The head of state [President Sarkozy] and Mrs. Rice both deemed that the six-point agreement protocol approved by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on August 12 must be signed without delay by the parties,” the French EU presidency said in a statement after meeting between Rice and Sarkozy.
President Saakashvili said Russia was blackmailing Georgia through military and diplomatic maneuvering to force it accept “a Munich-type of deal” – a reference to the 1938 treaty that allowed Nazi Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia.
In a statement made for a group of foreign journalists on August 14, Saakashvili said the deal would mean Georgia abandoning its drive to restore territorial integrity and amount to legalizing Russian troops’ presence on the Georgian soil. He did not give further details.
Saakashvili said “one-third of Georgia’s territory” was under the Russian occupation and the Russian tanks were rolling back and forth trying to mount pressure on the Georgian authorities.
Despite the August 13 agreement between the Russian military commander on the ground and the Georgian officials, town of Gori remained under the Russian forces’ control and the Georgian security and police forces were standing outside the town all day long waiting for the town hand over. But there were no signs of Russians retreating.
“We are planning it [withdrawal as part of the ceasefire deal],” Anatoly Nogovitsin, Russia's deputy chief of staff, told reporters in Moscow on August 14. “It depends on many factors. I can't give you the date. We have stopped building up troops.”
Also on August 14 Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev med with secessionist leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Sergey Bagapsh and Eduard Kokoity, respectively, in Moscow. The two secessionist leaders signed a six-point agreement.
Russia’s UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said “Presidents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia” had already subscribed to the, as he called it, “Medvedev-Sarkozy plan” and “the only missing thing is the Georgian side.”
And Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said it bluntly that he thought there was no way that those two regions would accept to be part of Georgia after what had happened.
Meanwhile in the United States, Secretary of Defense Gates called a special news conference jointly with Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright on the situation in Georgia and then President Bush reiterated his support for Georgia’s territorial integrity after he was briefed on situation in Georgia by CIA chief.
The Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, is expected to arrive in Tbilisi on August 15, after travailing to France.
“The head of state [President Sarkozy] and Mrs. Rice both deemed that the six-point agreement protocol approved by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on August 12 must be signed without delay by the parties,” the French EU presidency said in a statement after meeting between Rice and Sarkozy.
Saakashvili: ‘I Accuse Russia of Ethnic Cleansing’
01:59
“In the eyes of the mankind Russian troops are perpetrating ethnic cleansing, brutally mercilessly in my country and we can not do anything about it,” President Saakashvili said at a late-night press conference for foreign journalists on August 14.
He said not only the Georgian villages of the South Ossetian conflict zone, as well as of the Gori distinct have been “cleansed,” but upper Kodori Gorge as well.
“What Russia did by this [military] intervention is that they came in and ethnically purified, ethnically cleansed two areas of Georgia – totally cleansed Upper Abkhazia [areas in breakaway Abkhazia that were under the Tbilisi control before August 12] and totally cleansed South Ossetia,” Saakashvili said.
“I accuse the government of Russia of deliberate ethnic cleansing and I can prove it with international organization already bringing testimony to what I am saying. We’ve received 1,400 reports of brutal attacks, slaughters and rapes.”
Georgia filed a lawsuit against Russia in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), claiming Russia, through the separatist authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, violated a convention meant to eliminate racism in a period between 1990 and August, 2008.
“In the eyes of the mankind Russian troops are perpetrating ethnic cleansing, brutally mercilessly in my country and we can not do anything about it,” President Saakashvili said at a late-night press conference for foreign journalists on August 14.
He said not only the Georgian villages of the South Ossetian conflict zone, as well as of the Gori distinct have been “cleansed,” but upper Kodori Gorge as well.
“What Russia did by this [military] intervention is that they came in and ethnically purified, ethnically cleansed two areas of Georgia – totally cleansed Upper Abkhazia [areas in breakaway Abkhazia that were under the Tbilisi control before August 12] and totally cleansed South Ossetia,” Saakashvili said.
“I accuse the government of Russia of deliberate ethnic cleansing and I can prove it with international organization already bringing testimony to what I am saying. We’ve received 1,400 reports of brutal attacks, slaughters and rapes.”
Georgia filed a lawsuit against Russia in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), claiming Russia, through the separatist authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, violated a convention meant to eliminate racism in a period between 1990 and August, 2008.
HRW: ‘Indiscriminate Attacks’ on Both Sides
Civilians from the both sides, in Gori and Tskhinvali, have been victims of indiscriminate attacks, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on August 14.
An attack on the main square in the Georgian town of Gori on August 12 killed and injured dozens of civilians, it said. And in Tskhinvali HRW researchers saw numerous apartment buildings and houses damaged by shelling.
“Some of them had been hit by rockets most likely fired from Grad launchers, weapons that should not be used in areas populated by civilians, as they cannot be directed at only military targets and are therefore inherently indiscriminate,” it said.
“Human Rights Watch expressed its deep concern over the apparently indiscriminate nature of the attacks that have taken such a toll on civilians.”
Anna Neistat of HRW, who was leading a team investigating the humanitarian damage in South Ossetia, told the Guardian that Russia’s claims that 2,000 Ossetians were killed were “exaggerated.”
“The figure of 2,000 people killed is very doubtful," she said. "Our findings so far do not in any way confirm the Russian statistics. On the contrary, they suggest the numbers are exaggerated.”
An attack on the main square in the Georgian town of Gori on August 12 killed and injured dozens of civilians, it said. And in Tskhinvali HRW researchers saw numerous apartment buildings and houses damaged by shelling.
“Some of them had been hit by rockets most likely fired from Grad launchers, weapons that should not be used in areas populated by civilians, as they cannot be directed at only military targets and are therefore inherently indiscriminate,” it said.
“Human Rights Watch expressed its deep concern over the apparently indiscriminate nature of the attacks that have taken such a toll on civilians.”
Anna Neistat of HRW, who was leading a team investigating the humanitarian damage in South Ossetia, told the Guardian that Russia’s claims that 2,000 Ossetians were killed were “exaggerated.”
“The figure of 2,000 people killed is very doubtful," she said. "Our findings so far do not in any way confirm the Russian statistics. On the contrary, they suggest the numbers are exaggerated.”
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