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Russia orders halt to invasion of Georgia
Martin Bentham in London and Will Stewart in Moscow12 Aug 2008
Russia today called a halt to its military offensive in Georgia - but warned that it could resume operations if it encountered any further resistance by Georgian forces.
In a message to his defence minister, the Russian president Dmitri Medvedev said he had ordered an end to military action because Georgia had been sufficiently punished for its decision to send troops into the separatist region of South Ossetia.
"I have decided to stop the operation to force the Georgian authorities to peace. The security of our peacekeepers and civilians has been restored," he said. "The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its armed forces have been disorganised."
The president's decision came shortly before French president Nicolas Sarkozy was due to arrive in Moscow in a bid to secure peace and only hours after Russian forces tightened their grip on Georgia with a bombing raid on the city of Gori which claimed several lives.
Witnesses said one bomb fell on a hospital, while journalists reported seeing dead and injured people lying in the streets.
Russian-backed rebels also launched a new offensive today in Abkhazia, a second separatist region of Georgia, in a bid to force Georgian forces out of the only remaining area of the territory still in their control.
Mr Medvedev's intervention prompted international relief and is likely to calm world oil markets which have been shaken by the conflict and the potential risk to the major pipeline running through Georgian territory which supplies many Western countries.
He warned, however, that Russian forces would still defend themselves and crush any signs of Georgian resistance. "If there are any emerging hotbeds of resistance or any aggressive actions, you should take steps to destroy them," he added.
Georgian prime minister Lado Gurgenidze said he wanted to see more evidence of a Russian ceasefire and would remain "prepared for everything" until Moscow signed a formal peace deal.
Before the ceasefire order, today's new attacks - which came on the fifth day of fighting since the conflict was triggered by Georgia's attempt to seize control of South Ossetia - had raised fears that the Georgian capital Tbilisi could come under threat.
In a defiant address before today's Russian announcement, Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili said his country would never surrender and accused Moscow of engaging in "ethnic cleansing".
Russia's deputy prime minister has warned that it will be "decades" before the South Ossetians might be ready to accept any Georgian presence in their country and the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov today insisted that Georgia must sign a legally binding document on the nonuse of force before any progress could be made.
He added that Moscow could not agree to any peace plan for South Ossetia if it included Georgians in a future peacekeeping force because they had attacked Russian colleagues during Tbilisi's push to recapture the breakaway region.
"They can no longer remain. They brought shame upon themselves as peacekeepers. They committed crimes," said Mr Lavrov.
Earlier today, the crisis, which has claimed several thousand lives, widened when Russian-backed rebels in Abkhazia launched artillery strikes in a bid to drive Georgia forces out of the territory.
Abkhazia's self-styled foreign minister Sergei Shamba said his forces were driving Georgian troops out of the Kodori Gorge - the last remaining part of the territory held by Georgia. He insisted that Russian soldiers were not involved despite Moscow's deployment of more than 9,000 troops to the area earlier this week.
"The operation to liberate Kodori Gorge has started," Mr Shamba said. "Our troops are making advances. We are hoping for success."
That led to a defiant response from Mr Saakashvili, who told his country to fight on.
"Georgia will never surrender," he said. "They should know Georgia will never surrender. I directly accuse Russia of ethnic cleansing."
The president added that his country had now effectively been cut in two by the Russia's capture of the main eastwest highway close to the key city of Gori.
Shortly after he spoke, Russian aircraft bombed Gori, which lies close to the border with South Ossetia, injuring and killing several civilians in the virtually deserted streets and hitting a hospital. A Dutch TV cameraman was among those killed.
"The bombs hit in front of us and beside us," a Reuters reporter driving through Gori said. "Several people were wounded and lying in the street.
Although Russian officials denied that their forces were planning to march on Tbilisi, or that they had taken Gori, the attacks - coupled with Russia's capture of two strategic towns, Senaki and Zugdidi, inside Georgia yesterday - intensified the growing international unease.
Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union. Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since fighting to split from Georgia in the early 1990s - and both have close ties with Moscow.
President Bush said today: "Russia has invaded a sovereign neighbouring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century."
Reader views (4)
People are forgetting or should I say CHOOSE to forget the fact that GEORGIA invaded S. Ossetia just before midnight using military force, killing civilians and peacekeepers.
Why is the world and controlled making Georgia look the victim?
- Alan Jones, Australia, 16/08/2008 05:49
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Where are the marchers in the streets of Europe? I guess it is okay for Russia to kill civilians without anyone saying a word. I am not surprised. Did Russia go to the UN for permission to invade a sovereign country? No, she didn't. You Europeans are something else. The Old Soviet Bear is alive and well. Be afraid. Be very afraid!
- L. Steinhauser, Athens, USA, 13/08/2008 07:54
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Russia, under KGB Putin, is regressing to its old repressive regime. The world better stop the appeasement soon, or Ukraine will be next. Medved is a pawn of Putin's, who wants to restore Russia's greatness, meaning their ability to attack sovereign nations, enslave people and slaughter innocents.
- John, San Diego USA, 13/08/2008 01:17
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I hope it isn’t in my life time but one day, we are going to have to see the real Olympics, US vs. Russia. I hope it is a long way off but if the games were held today I think the US would get the gold. When you reflect on the goal of the US to establish self sustaining democracies vs. controlling nations, the US wins hands down. Russia running around with 1980’s technology bulling a nothing nation with a nothing military is ridiculous. The Russians don’t even seem to have smart bomb technology with all the collateral damage they caused. To quote a military advisor, any idiot can make a bomb, but to deliver it without collateral damage takes genius.
- Jeff In Miami, Miami Beach, FL USA, 12/08/2008 23:27
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