www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4486208.ece
CLASSIFIEDS From Times Online August 8, 2008 Georgia says Russian tanks mean 'war' in South Ossetia You need Flash Player 8 or higher to view video content with the ROO Flash Player.
Video: Russian tanks roll in Russia sent troops and dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles into the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia today, vowing to protect its citizens in a move described by Tbilisi's pro-Western Government as an act of war. A South Ossetian rebel minister said that more than 1,000 people had been killed in overnight shelling of the city of Tskhinvali, the separatist capital which Georgia claimed today to have captured. In probably the most serious regional crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, at least 50 Russian tanks - and possibly many more - rumbled through the Roki tunnel, which cuts through the Caucasus mountains separating South Ossetia from the Russian province of North Ossetia.
Video: Russian tanks roll in The Russian incursion came after Georgian forces moved to regain control of the region that broke away along with rebel Abkhazia in the 1990s. Russia backs the separatists in both provinces and has its own peacekeeping forces there. "One hundred and fifty Russian tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles have entered South Ossetia," President Saakashvili of Georgia told reporters in Tbilisi. "This is a clear intrusion on another country's territory. We have Russian tanks on our territory, jets on our territory in broad daylight." Mr Saakashvili added that Georgian forces had downed two Russian jet fighters over Georgian territory. Georgia mobilised its reservists yesterday and launched a massive offensive overnight. Fighting raged today around the city of Tskhinvali, the regional capital, as Georgian troops backed by tanks and warplanes pounded separatist forces, Eduard Kokoity, the South Ossetian rebel leader, said that there were "hundreds of dead civilians" in the city. His Nationalities Minister, Teimuraz Kasaev, put the number at "more than a thousand". A senior Russian military commander said parts of Russia's 58th army were approaching the rebel capital. "We cannot allow the deaths of our countrymen to go unpunished. The guilty parties will receive the punishment they deserve," President Medvedev told a meeting of his security council in the Kremlin. "I am obliged to protect the lives and dignity of Russian citizens, no matter where they are located." Mr Medvedev's predecessor, Vladimir Putin, now Prime Minister, warned on a visit to Beijing, where he attended the Olympic opening ceremony, that the Georgian action would bring "retaliatory measures". Both Nato and the White House appealed for an end to the fighting as international diplomacy went into overdrive and Mr Putin discussed the crisis with President Bush at a gathering ahead of the Olympic ceremony. A US official said that 100 American military trainers working in Georgia were all safe. The International Committee of the Red Cross called for the establishment of a "humanitarian corridor" through South Ossetia. South Ossetian officials said that much of Tskhinvali had been destroyed in the Georgian offensive. A Reuters correspondent some two miles from the city said that the roar of warplanes and the explosions of heavy shells was deafening and many houses were ablaze. The area is of strategic importance, largely because of the BTC oil pipeline, which runs through central Georgia just south of the breakaway region. The pipeline - which features in the 1999 James Bond film The World is Not Enough - pumps around one per cent of global crude supplies from the Caspian to the Turkish port of Ceyhan for export to Western Europe but is already closed because of an attack in Turkey last week by the Kurdish separatist organisation PKK. Mr Saakashvili, a US-educated lawyer who succeeded Eduard Shevardnadze in 2004 and has since tried to align it more closely to the West, compared the Russian action with the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and appealed to the outside world to intervene. "Russia is fighting a war with us in our own territory," he told CNN as Russian armour rolled into South Ossetia. It's about America, its values: we are a freedom-loving nation that is right now under attack." Tensions between Georgia and Russia have been rising over the last few months over South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Georgia accuses Russia of fermenting trouble in both regions and supporting the separatist governments as a way to put pressure on Georgia and foil its attempts to join Nato. Russia has given out passports to a majority of South Ossetians and Abkhazians.
Have your say Russian Philosophy : 1 Step Forward, 3 Steps Back. Joseph, London , UK I can't believe Bush is trying to start ww3. Look how he is in peaceful China, all the while planning conquest. I sure hope freedom loving Russia stands up to America this time. That argument sounds pretty stupid today doesn't Tyler, Springfield, USA Not our fault... We forget that the United States actually saved Russia from the Nazis. The US was shipping tanks and other military devices to protect Russia. It may have been in our common interest but none the less. We have saved the world once, and we will do it again if it is necessary. William, Los Angeles, USA It's just a well planned offensive against Georgia, and the main fault is Russian imperialism, which has provoked the Georgian attack. All these "saving citizen" affairs are well known for me as a Lithuanian. It's just a handle to incurse Georgia Simon, Vilnius, Lithuania In Soviet Union Ossetia was divided only because the Big Caucasian ridge was often impassable in winter: North Ossetia was a part of Russia and south Ossetia was a part of Georgia. The border was only a formality, but after the disintegration of the USSR it became real state border. Alex, Riga, Russia is the aggressor and will do anything to prevent Georgia from joining Nato and bring peace to South Ossetia & Abkhazia. Georgia has the right to bring South Ossetia & Abkhazia back under the control of the Georgian goverment. Billy R Fillmore Jr, Meriden, Connecticut, USA Bush hasn't taken one single drop of oil from Iraq like many people argued. Rob Jones, Tennessee, USA Russia should retaliate with all its military power against this crazy georgian regime Mark Day, London, Looks like another resource war to me. Rob, Glasgow, I am saddened by all the messages which seem to think the US is some how responsible for this. I will put America's record up against Russia's any day of the week. Some of you in england should talk to your grandparents. I am afraid we will all have to pick a side soon enough. Sean , Owensboro, USA It's just an easy start for Russia's crusade to the middle east- They'll take as much as they can get away with- It may not seem important to American's now, but wait and see- this will have an effect on world affairs down the road. Bree, Minnesota, USA Perhaps we should have though of the horrible precedent we were creating when we allowed and encouraged Kosovo to withdraw from Serbia and change the international borders of that country. Why don't the South Ossetians where Russians are an overwhelming majority have the same rights as the Kosovars Michael, Washington, USA Balkan history repeats itself. paul, birmingham, uk If only Barack Obama were President of the United States of America, he would merely need to raise his hands, walk through the battlegrounds and all fighting would immediately cease. Frank, Orlando, USA I missed the UN approval of Russia moving on its peacekeeping mission. alexander, New York, US "So why don't the Russians be big boys and take on the US instead of Georgia? Dan Rather, USA So , why do USA always invade weaker countries? In this case Georgia is the aggressor against a country who do want to be apart of Georgia. Like Kosovo did not want to be a part of Serbia Gerry, Hereford, UK As long as Sherman isn't involved, Atlanta should be okay. Jorge, Yippsalanti, MI The fact is, that Russia doesn't want an independent, Weestern oriented Georgia so it can keep its monopoly on gas to Europe (so freeze in the dark when the time comes al...
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