Russian Military Destroying Ammo in Sebaki Base

Russian forces have entered into Senaki seizing Georgia’s main military base there, the Georgian radio reported.

The radio station’s correspondent at the scene said via phone she saw Russian military trucks driving out of the base, apparently taking away remaining ammunition at the base.

She also said that sound of several explosions have also been heard, indicating that some of the ammo were being destroyed.

Meanwhile, in Zugdidi, a Georgian town at the administrative border with Abkhazia, the Russian military commanders demanded from the local authorities and the police to immediately return ammunition, which has been seized from the Russian peacekeepers by the Georgian security forces in June, 2008.

OSCE Chair Wants 100 More Observers in Confect Zone

The Finnish Foreign Minister said he was concerned over reports of violence against civilians.
The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said he would push for an increase of OSCE military officers on the ground in Georgia by up to 100.

“I am gravely concerned about reports of continued violence against civilians and their property in and around the zone of conflict,” Stubb said on August 13. “The ceasefire agreed on yesterday must be strictly adhered to. In this situation the OSCE should do its utmost and deploy an additional 100 Military Monitoring Officers as soon as possible.”

“I expect all measures necessary to be taken to ensure the safety of non-combatants, regardless of their ethnic origins, and for obligations under international humanitarian law to be respected.”
OSCE Mission to Georgia said it had not been able to gain full access to the conflict area at the moment.

Head of OSCE Mission to Georgia, Ambassador Terhi Hakala, had demanded that the Russian Federation organise a humanitarian corridor out of the conflict zone to the south as soon as possible.

Georgian Police Goes Back to Gori

Georgian official and Russian military commander said late on Wednesday, that the Georgian police would be able to return back to the town of Gori starting from early August 14.

Alexandre Maisuradze, chief of the local police, said people who have fled the town close to the South Ossetian conflict zone, would be able to return as soon as the Georgian police is back.

Meanwhile, deputy commander of the Russia’s airborne troops, Maj. Gen. Alexander Borisov, who was in Gori on August 13 meeting with the Georgian officials there, denied reports about Russian forces ever entering Gori.

He said that the Russian forces were stationed in the vicinity of the town recovering and collecting arms, equipment and ammunition, which, as he said, was abandoned by the Georgian army while retreating back towards Tbilisi.

“It is dangerous, there were plenty of abandoned firearm; there are some 40 military vehicles over those heights,” Borisov told a group of Georgian journalists in Gori, who were accompanying secretary of the Georgian National Security Council, Alexandre Lomaia, to Gori.
Public Defender, Sozar Subari, was also there on August 13.

He told Civil.Ge on the phone that he had spoken with some of the local population in Gori and eyewitnesses telling stories of looting, robbery, killings and kidnappings by paramilitary groups, who were infiltrating the town time after time.

“We will study all these cases and table a relevant document,” Subari said.

STOP THE WAR

Saakashvili Blames Bush

President Saakashvili said he was warning the United States about Russia’s plans to attack Georgia, but Washington, he said, was underestimating the risk.

“State Department underestimated them [Russia],” he said in a conference call with foreign journalists on August 13. “They were saying that Russia was just playing games. I asked about what would happen if they crossed the line. They said that it’d be a big mistake. Well, it’s a weak consolation that Russia’s made a mistake. And the West has made the mistake of underestimating them.

“I think America should clearly organise resistance among Western countries,” he said when asked what he wanted the U.S. to do in the current situation.

“They have lots of leverage to stop Russian aggression. America’s prestige and reputation in the region is at stake. The reputation that America has gained since the Cold War is going to hell right now. This is tragic.”

Baltic and Polish Leaders Call for Stronger Western Support for Georgia

Leaders of Baltic states and Poland have strongly called on EU and U.S. to make a proper assessment of Russia’s aggression against Georgia.

President of Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Poland, as well as PM of Latvia arrived in Tbilisi on August 12 in a show of strong support to Georgia.

Speaking at a joint news conference on August 13, Valdas Adamkus, the President of Lithuania, invoked developments ahead of WWII and the devastating results of, as he said, policy of appeasement of Hitler. He said everyone should remember what followed this policy of appeasement.

President Adamkus also said he hoped the EU foreign ministers due to meet in Brussels on August 13 would make “a proper assessment of the aggression against Georgia.” He also added that the west should not leave Georgia alone.

Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, told the same press conference that Georgia was the very country where “our biggest ally [the United States] has to confirm its strong support.”

In a statement on August 12 Estonian President, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, has warned that “the Russian-Georgian war is a touchstone for the European Union for shaping European security policies in the future.”

“Europe must re-evaluate its entire current security and foreign policy and bring it into conformity with the new reality,” he said.

Latvian Prime Minister, Ivars Godmanis, said that no solution can be achieve at the expense of Georgia’s territorial integrity.

Cartoon

Georgia Sues Russia in ICJ

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, the Hague-based court said on August 12.

It said in a press release that Georgia claims Russia violated its obligations under the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) “during three distinct phases of its interventions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia” in the period from 1990 to August 2008.

“Russian Federation, through its State organs, State agents, and other persons and entities exercising governmental authority, and through the South Ossetian and Abkhaz separatist forces and other agents acting on the instructions of, and under the direction and control of the Russian Federation, is responsible for serious violations of its fundamental obligations under [the] CERD, including Articles 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6,” Georgia claims in its lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Russia is further stepping up its efforts to push internationally its allegations against Georgia that the latter’s actions undertaken in recent days in South Ossetia amounted to “genocide” of the Ossetian people. Russia has claimed that about 2,000 Ossetians have been killed after, as it says, Georgia launched a military assault on the breakaway region.

The Russian General Prosecutor’s Office (GPO) did not rule out taking legal actions against President Saakashvili.

“The evidence collected could be used both for appealing to international courts and for considering crimes against Russian citizens living in South Ossetia by Russian judicial bodies," Interfax news agency reported quoting GPO spokeswoman Marina Gridneva.

Russia and Georgia agree to outlines of peace plan

TBLISI, Georgia: The presidents of Georgia and Russia agreed early Wednesday morning to the framework of an agreement that could end the war that flared up here five days ago, though Russian air strikes continued throughout the day and antagonisms seethed on both sides.

Declaring that "the aggressor has been punished," President Dmitri Medvedev announced that Russia would stop its campaign, which was prompted after Georgian troops on Friday entered the separatist enclave of South Ossetia and shelled the capital city.

By 2 a.m. Wednesday morning, Medvedev and his Georgian counterpart, Mikheil Saakashvili, had agreed to a plan which would withdraw troops to the positions they occupied before the fighting broke out.

"The tanks should go," said Saakashvili, emerging from a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who carried the proposal from Moscow to Tbilisi. "I hope they will."

"There was a degree of constructive ambiguity" in the document that allowed the announcement to be made today, said a senior European diplomat, who spoke under condition of anonymity.
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If the agreement takes hold, Russia will have edged back from a confrontation that threatened to draw it into a cold-war-style conflict with Western nations. As things stand, a great goal has already been accomplished: Russia has asserted its ability to wrestle its neighbors to the ground at will, and — if not now, then later — resume its old role as the hegemon of the South Caucasus.

But Medvedev's overtures on Tuesday left the door open to further military action. Russian authorities make no secret of their desire to see Saakashvili tried for war crimes in The Hague.

Medvedev has not called for a withdrawal, and expects Russian peacekeepers to remain in both South Ossetia and another separatist area to the west, Abkhazia. He also authorized Russian soldiers to fire on "hotbeds of resistance and other aggressive actions." As the conflict cools and hardens, the two separatist regions could wind up permanently annexed by Russia.

Western negotiators, who have shuttled between the Georgian and Russian governments for days, said they were optimistic that the crisis was under control.

"Traditionally, we will see a few skirmishes, but frontal attacks and positioning will end," said Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, the chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The talk went on for two hours, and Sarkozy was twice required to call Medvedev to clarify points for that concerned the Georgian president. Saakashvili insisted that, when Russian peacekeepers returned to the disputed territories, the troops should be the same ones previously stationed there – not crack troops swapped in anticipation of fighting. He also insisted that the ultimate status of the two breakaway regions not be subject to negotiation.

Finally, the two made a verbal agreement on the document, which will provide a structure for negotiations and ultimately be signed and registered with the United Nations.

As the news filtered across Georgia, citizens reacted with relief and defiance. At a rally in Tbilisi, a euphoric crowd waved signs that read "Stop Russia," and Saakashvili announced Georgia's withdrawal from the "Russia-dominated" Commonwealth of Independent States.

"I saw Russian planes bombing our villages and killing our soldiers, but I could not do anything, and this will always be with me," he said. "I promise that I will make them regret this."

The presidents of five former Soviet satellite states – Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, Poland and – flew into the capital and appeared beside Saakashvili in a show of solidarity.

"I am a Georgian," said Toomas Hendrick, the president of Estonia.

On Tuesday, Medvedev took the lead role, in contrast to previous days when the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, was the dominant public figure in the crisis, even flying to the Georgian border to direct operations.

Early in the day, Medvedev announced the end of Russian military activity.

But sporadic bombings were reported in several locations after Medvedev's announcement.

But in the port of Poti, bombs were heard falling an hour after Medvedev's statement. Shota Utiashvili, Georgia's interior minister, said 22 civilians had been killed during the day, after Medvedev's announcement of a cease-fire. He said that there had been ground attacks in the Kodori Gorge region of Abkhazia, the only part of the breakaway territory that remained in Georgian hands, and that ground forces remained outside the conflict zone in South Ossetia.

"We should all prepare for the worst," Utiashvili said. "What we see on the ground is continued aggression."

By late Tuesday, Georgian forces were evacuated from the gorge, said Shota Utiashvili, a spokesman for Georgia's Interior Ministry.
Russia and Georgia have engaged in heated rhetoric in the five days since their long-running disagreement over South Ossetia and Abkhazia boiled over into open warfare, starting when Georgian troops entered South Ossetia, a separatist region with strong ties to Russia, shelling the capital city of Tskhinvali. Russian troops briefly seized a Georgian military base and took up positions close to the central Georgian city of Gori, raising Georgian fears of a full-scale invasion or an attempt to oust Saakashvili.

On Tuesday in Gori, a bomb landed in Stalin Square — named for the Soviet leader who was born in the city — killing five people. Attack helicopters buzzed through the sky, and ambulances sped through the city. The main road to Tbilisi was completely cleared of Georgian forces on Tuesday, except for broken and abandoned vehicles left behind in the retreat.

Georgia has painted Russia's actions an attempt to recreate the Soviet Union's iron sphere of influence. Meanwhile, Russia has refused to negotiate with Saakashvili until he signs a legally binding agreement to never again use force in the breakaway republics.

Russian authorities have said they would like to bring Saakashvili to a war crimes tribunal in The Hague for Georgian attacks on civilians in the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali.

If Russian and Georgian forces do stand down, international mediators will have to confront a flurry of problems. Will Russian and Georgian troops withdraw to their positions last Thursday, before the latest fighting broke out, or to their positions in 1991, when the dispute over Georgia's enclaves began? Will Georgia sign an agreement with Russia, or with the leaders of the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia?

Who would enforce a cease-fire — the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which currently monitors South Ossetia, or the United Nations, which monitors Abkhazia, or some other international body, like the European Union?

Diplomats have tried to keep the parties to the conflict focused on short-term practical steps — first, a cease-fire; second, allowing humanitarian aid into the conflict zone; and third, withdrawing troops. Only then, Stubb said, would Russian and Georgian officials begin a peace process to address the actual causes of the conflict.

Andrew E. Kramer reported from Georgia and Ellen Barry from Moscow. Reporting was contributed by Thanassis Cambanis from Moscow; Michael Schwirtz from Poti, Georgia; Nicholas Kulish from Tbilisi; and C.J Chivers from New York

Russia & Georgia at War-Latest report from Georgia

Kodori Under Abkhaz Control

Authorities in breakaway Abkhazia said their forces were in full control of upper Kodori Gorge.

Officials in Tbilisi have confirmed it.

However, there are conflicting reports about how the process took place.

The Abkhaz side has claimed that its troops took over the area after fighting with the Georgian forces throughout the day, on August 12.

Shota Utiashvili, the Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman, told Civil.Ge that the Georgian forces were withdrawn from the gorge last night.

CNN aired brief footage showing an Abkhaz militia taking down the Georgia’s national flag from the administrative building in the gorge.

Meanwhile, President Saakashvili told a group of foreign journalists on August 12: “Within a well-prepared plan, several hundred pieces of the Russian [military] equipment, Russian airborne troops, commanded by the airborne troops of Russia landed there [in the Kodori Gorge] and expelled and certainly killed part of the population. Whole population from that place is gone. This is classical case of ethnic cleansing.”

Upper Kodori gorge was the only part of breakaway Abkhazia under Tbilisi’s control.

Russia Endorses Six-Point Plan

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has endorsed a six-point plan on ceasing hostilities in Georgia after meeting with his French counterpart, Nikolas Sarkozy.

Medvedev read out the six points at a joint news conference with Sarkozy, who is expected to arrive in Tbilisi this evening to seek President Saakashvili’s endorsement as well.

“The first [principle] – a commitment not to use force,” President Medvedev said. “The second – complete cessation of military actions. The third – free access for humanitarian assistance. The fourth – the return of Georgian armed forces to places of their permanent location. The fifth: the Russian peacekeeping forces take additional security measures before creation of international mechanisms. The sixth: the start of international discussions on the status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and ways of providing for their stable security.”

He said that if the Georgian side was realistically prepared to sign and subsequently withdraw its forces and implement these principles, “the way towards gradual normalization of the situation in South Ossetia will be opened.”

“The Ball is in Tbilisi’s court,” he said.

The French president said at the news conference that “our intention was not to sort out all the issues."

“We have tried to find solutions on paper that could allow us short-term means to achieve an agreement,” Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU presidency, said. “This provisional ceasefire can become a permanent one.”

A Piece of Russian Propoganda

Georgia Quits CIS

Saakashvili said Georgia would declare Russian troops in Abkhazia, S.Ossetia as “occupational forces.”

President Saakashvili said Georgia has decided to quit the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and to officially denounce Russian troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia as “occupational forces.”

“We have decided to quit CIS and to say farewell to the Soviet Union,” Saakashvili told a crowd of tens of thousands of people gathered outside the Parliament. “We call on Ukraine and other members to also quit the CIS ruled by Russia.”

“We have also decided to renounce the Russian peacekeepers’ mandate and to declare Abkhazia and South Ossetia occupied territories of Georgia,” he added.

Medvedev: Goal Achieved, Operation Ends.

Russian President Dimitri Medvedev said that he has made a decision to end “the peace enforcement operation” in Georgia.

“On the basis of your report I decided to end the operation of forcing the Georgian authorities to peace,” Medvedev said while meeting with Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov. “The goal of the operation has been achieved.”

He also instructed the top military officials to suppress any resistance in case of emergence of any violence in the South Ossetian conflict zone.

Bush Warn Russia Over Georgia

U.S. President George W. Bush warned Russia to reserve its course in Georgia, otherwise warned its actions would jeopardize Moscow’s relations with U.S. and EU.

“I am deeply concerned by reports that Russian troops have moved beyond the [South Ossetian] zone of conflict, attacked the Georgian town of Gori and are threatening Georgia's capital of Tbilisi,” he said in a special statement from the White House.

“There is evidence that Russian forces may soon begin bombing the civilian airport in the capital city. If these reports are accurate, these Russian actions would represent a dramatic and brutal escalation of the conflict in Georgia.”

He said that these actions were inconsistent with “the assurances we have received from Russia that its objectives were limited to restoring status quo in South Ossetia, that existed before the fighting began on August 6.”

“It now appears that an effort may be underway to depose [Georgia's] duly elected government. Russia has invaded the sovereign neighboring state and threatens the democratic government elected by its people,” he said. “Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century.”
He said that Tbilisi had already expected the elements of peace agreement that the Russian government previously said it would be willing to accept.

The proposal involves:
• An immediate ceasefire;
• Withdrawal of forces from the zone of conflict;
• A return to the military status quo as of August 6;
• Committeemen not to use force;

Bush said that the French and Finnish Foreign Ministers, after traveling to Georgia, were in Moscow, seeking Russia’s agreement on this peace plan.

“Russian government must reverse the course it appears to be on and accept this peace agreement as a first step towards resolving this conflict,” he said. “Russia’s actions have substantially damage Russia’s standing in the world and these actions jeopardize Russia’s relations with the United States and Europe.”

Proud to be georgian, proud to be georgian warrior

Faces Of War. Don't Hide Your Eyes!

‘Russia Occupies Significant Part of Georgia’ – Saakashvili

Saakashvili said in a televised address:
• The army should struggle to the end;
• We will never surrender;
• Georgian forces are re-grouping;

Russia took over control of the major highway passing through Gori and “separated the country’s western part from the east,” President Saakashvili said at a session of National Security Council at 8:45pm on August 11.

It was earlier reported that the Russian forces were in control of Gori. It was earlier reported that the Russian forces were in control of Gori. The Russian Defense Ministry, however, has denied that its forces were in Gori, Interfax news agency report at 9:15pm.

Russian forces also advanced deep into the Georgian territory from breakaway Abkhazia as well, taking control of Senaki.

“Situation is extremely grave,” Saakashvili said. “This is occupation attempt, attempt to totally occupy Georgia, attempt to destroy Georgia.”

“Russia’s goal is to put an end to existence of the Georgian state,” he added.

“We are receiving only moral and humanitarian help from the international community, but we need more than that. We want them to stop these barbaric aggressors.”

“Our armed forces will carry out regrouping and we will protect and continue fighting for our future… We will never surrender, we will never say no to freedom and our future; we will never kneel down.”

“Russia’s goal is to trigger panic and chaos and civil confrontation in Georgia... Do not let the enemy’s major goal be achieved. We should not allow chaos, political confrontation.”

He also called on the population to gather outside the Parliament at 3pm on August 12 “to show the enemy that we are united and strong.”

The Results of the "Peacemaker" Work

USA is Behind Georgia-Russian War

Georgia Agrees to European-Brokered Ceasefire

Now we have to convince Russia’ – the French FM said.

President Saakashvili said on August 11 he had signed a ceasefire deal proposed by senior European envoys.

French and Finnish Foreign Ministers Bernard Kouchner and Alexander Stubb, respectively, met Saakashvili overnight and again early on August 11, before traveling to Moscow.

"We have to convince our Russian friends as we have convinced our Georgian friends here," Kouchner said in a live interview with BBC World from Tbilisi after meeting with President Saakashvili.

When asked what would be his and the Finnish foreign minister's message to Moscow, Kouchner responded: "Peace; stop the bleeding."

"It was the duty of the European Union to stop this bloody killing just at the door of the European Union," the French foreign minister, whose country holds the EU rotating presidency, said.

The Finnish foreign minister, who holds the OSCE rotating chairmanship, was more optimistic "than I was yesterday."

"We need a ceasefire and after that we need withdrawal of troops and after that we can move towards peace negotiations," he told BBC World.

He re-iterated President George W. Bush's call for a return to the status quo ante of August 6.
"We will start with a ceasefire; we will work on the humanitarian aid side, because there are people in need on both sides," Stubb said. He added that only then would it be possible to think about a possible peacekeeping format.

"I can not say that it will be ended today, but I am optimistic that in the near future we will come into solution; whether it happens today, tomorrow or day after tomorrow – I do not think anyone knows at this stage," he said. "We have a good start here in Tbilisi and time to move on to Moscow, let's see what they have to say."

The two foreign ministers are due to visit the Georgian town of Gori, close to the South Ossetian conflict zone. The town has been subject to repeated Russian aerial attacks in the last few days.

http://civilgeorgia.blogspot.com/

Medvedev: Peacemaking Operation Almost Completed

Russian President Dimitri Medvedev said that, what he called, Russian peacekeepers had almost completed their "peace enforcement operation in Georgia," Interfax news agency reported on August 11."The task of forcing the Georgian side, the Georgian authorities, to [accept] peace in South Ossetia has almost been achieved. Tskhinvali is under the control of the reinforced Russian peacekeeping contingent," Medvedev said at a meeting with PM Putin, as well as members of the general staff of the Russian armed forces."We – I mean the Russian peacekeepers – will take all further necessary measures to protect the lives and dignity of Russian citizens," he added.President Medvedev told his French counterpart Nikola Sarkozy during a phone conversation on August 10 that Georgia’s moves had ruined process of peace settlement of the South Ossetian conflict.“From the political point of view Georgia’s aggression has ruined the process of searching of the peaceful solution for the Georgian-Ossetian problem. As a result Georgia has hit an irreparable damage to its territorial integrity,” the Kremlin reported quoting President Medvedev.

Much at stake in Georgian conflict

Russia Wants ‘Regime Change’ in Georgia – U.S. Suggests

UN Security Council session has seen sharp exchange of barbs between the Georgian and Russian, on the one hand, and Russian and U.S. diplomats on the other on August 10.

Speaking at the public debate of the Security Council session the U.S. ambassador in the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Georgia’s President “Saakashvili must go.”

“This is totally unacceptable; that crosses the line,” he added.

Khalilzad then looked asked the Russian diplomat if Moscow was looking for “regime change.”

Churkin did not directly address the question but said there are leaders who “become an obstacle,” Reuters reported.

“Sometimes those leaders need to contemplate how useful they have become to their people,” Churkin told journalists after the session.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s UN ambassador, Irakli Alasania, who was invited to participate at the Council’s public debate, said it was “Russia's intention to erase Georgian statehood, to exterminate Georgian people.”

And the Russian diplomat accused Tbilisi of waging “genocide” against the South Ossetian people – the allegation Alasania said was “Soviet propaganda” and a pretext to justify its military aggression against Georgia.

He also said Russia intended to repeat what it did in Chechnya.

Two Journalists Killed in S.Ossetia

Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 11 Aug.'08 / 03:12

It emerged on August 10 that a journalist Giga Chikhladze and a photographer Alexander Klimchuk, both of them Georgians, were killed while covering Russian-Georgian clashes in South Ossetia.

Their whereabouts remained unknown for last couple of days. It was reported that both of them died in Tskhinvali, but no other details were known yet.

Senior UN Official Briefs Security Council on Abkhaz Military Build-Up

Edmond Mulet, the UN assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, briefed the UN Security Council session on August 10 on the most recent developments in breakaway Abkhazia, following the de facto authorities’ announcement that they intend to take over the Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori Gorge.

Below is a full transcript of what he told the Security Council members:

Today the Abkhaz side has moved troops and heavy weapons into the zone of conflict. Such movement was initially prevented by the CIS peacekeeping force, but their commander, General Chaban, yesterday informed UNOMIG that they could no longer stop the Abkhaz from moving weapons and personnel into the zone.

UNOMIG has confirmed the CIS peacekeepers did not attempt to stop such deployments. Abkhaz troops and heavy weapons are now present all along the ceasefire line.

Yesterday morning the Abkhaz de facto deputy defense minister requested that UNOMIG withdraw its observers from the Upper Kodori Valley, as their safety could no longer be guaranteed. UNOMIG then withdrew all 15 observers that had been present in the Upper Kodori Valley.

Following the request for UNOMIG to leave the Upper Kodori Valley, the Abkhaz de facto authorities announced a decision taken by de facto President Bagapsh to push the Georgian armed forces out of the Upper Kodori Valley.

Beginning yesterday afternoon UNOMIG has reported ongoing aerial bombardments of Georgian villages in the Upper Kodori Valley.

The mission also observed the movement by the Abkhaz side of substantial numbers of heavy weapons and military personnel towards the Kodori Valley. Early today the Abkhaz de facto President Bagapsh gave a press conference where he announced that their operation in the Upper Kodori Valley was proceeding according to plan. He stated that both Georgian civilians and armed personnel had been given an ultimatum to leave the Upper Kodori Valley. Bagapsh also stated that his side was coordinating their activities with the CIS peacekeeping forces in order to restore order in the peacekeepers’ area of responsibility. He said that Sokhumi had requested Russia to take measures to strengthen the Abkhaz maritime border.

Negotiations with Georgia, he said, were only possible after the planned Abkhaz operations were completed. UNOMIG has received information from multiple sources that most of the civilian population of the Upper Kodori Valley has left.

Throughout last night and today UNOMIG has obtained information on an ongoing build-up of forces, both Abkhaz and Russian, in and near the zone of conflict. UNOMIG observed a Russian airborne battalion move towards the zone of conflict this morning. UNOMIG also reports that a number of Illushin-76 transport airplanes have landed in Sokhumi airport beginning yesterday evening. It also appears that the number of Russian ships belonging to the Black Sea fleet have moved close to the coast of Abkhazia. Abkhaz forces and heavy weapons have been moved to the administrative border with Georgia across the entire zone of conflict.

Bombings had taken place in the vicinity of the Georgian city of Zugdidi causing panic among the local population many of whom are trying to see protection in the UNOMIG regional headquarters located there. As a result of these increasing tensions and bombings in the mission’s area of operations, UNOMIG has had to scale down its operations and is now conducting only essential patrols. The mission continues to liaise with the sides and the CIS peacekeepers.

For the time being UNOMIG has not observed major movements of troops or weapons into the zone of conflict on the Georgian side. So far the only actions observed were reinforcements of the existing positions along the ceasefire line.

Overall, with the exception of the bombing of the Upper Kodori Valley and targets near Zugdidi, including Senaki military base, no direct confrontations appeared to have broken out as yet in our area of operations. UNOMIG has requested that the CIS peacekeepers provide security through its regional headquarters in Gali and Zugdidi. Thank you.

Georgia Says Tbilisi Airport Bombed

Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 10 Aug.'08 / 21:36


The Georgian government said Russian aircraft bombed Tbilisi's civilian airport at 7pm local time on August 10.

“The attack occurred several hours after Georgia offered a formal ceasefire to Russia, via Russia’s ambassador to Georgia, and declared Georgia’s readiness to immediately start negotiations with the Russian Federation on the termination of hostilities,” the governemnt’s statement said.

Alexander Lomaia, the secretary of the National Security Council, said the attack on Tbilisi “offers further evidence that Russia’s invasion of Georgia is not about Abkhazia and South Ossetia.”

“The goal of the Russian Federation – which today also blockaded our Black Sea ports and is relentlessly bombing civilian sites throughout the country – is to overthrow the democratically elected government of this small European nation,” Lomaia said.

Tbilisi-based radio station Fortuna FM reported earlier, quoting airport authorities, that a bomb had been dropped a few kilometers from the airport.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has denied that the airport in Tbilisi was bombed, saying it was “misinformation.”

Georgia in Fire. Russia bombarding Gori