South Ossetia

Georgia declares “state of war” as Russian bombing continues

Article published on the 2008-08-09 Latest update 2008-08-11 09:47 TU

Georgian soldiers after Russian bombs fell on Gori, 9 August 2008.
(Photo : Reuters)

A Georgian counter-offensive overnight “liberated” most of the breakaway province of South Ossetia, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili announced on Saturday, after a day of heavy bombing by Russian planes and advances by Ossetian separatist forces. Georgian officials claim to have shot down ten Russian planes and destroyed 30, after reporting that the Russians were targeting civilian areas.

The Russian military reported 12 casualties and 150 wounded as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin vowed that his forces would counter-attack.

At least 15 civilians are reported to have been killed in the fighting that escalated when Russian troops entered the rebel Georgian province on Friday. Russians backing the South Ossetian fighters claimed that they “liberated” the province’s capital of Tskhinvali on Friday, though Georgian forces retook parts of the city overnight.

Despite the violence, an escalation of hostilities is unlikely, said Jacques Rupnik, Professor of central European studies at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

“Georgia doesn’t have the military means to pursue an escalation, and Russia doesn’t have the intention to pursue one,” he said.

“It would be very counter-productive on Russia’s part to overplay its hand militarily. It doesn’t want to be seen as invading Georgia; it is presenting itself as being in a posture of retaliating to Georgian military action,” he said.

“Because Russia doesn’t actually seek an overt annexation of this region, it prefers to use it as a leverage, as a pressure point on Russia,” Rupnik explained. “South Ossetia is much more useful in this way.”

The international outcry has been almost universal, as the European Union and the United States called on Russia to cease all attacks on Georgian territory and to withdraw its forces.

US President George W. Bush called on Russia to withdraw to the “6 August status quo”. Speaking on Saturday morning in Beijing, Bush said, “Georgia is a sovereign country and its territorial integrity must be respected.”

The UN Security Council failed to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire at an emergency session on Friday, and is scheduled to try again today.

Georgian military officials announced Saturday that they would be withdrawing all their forces from Iraq within three days to help battle South Ossetian separatists backed by the Russian army. With 2,000 troops in Iraq, Georgia is the third-largest contributor of foreign forces after the United States and the UK. The US command said that it would help organize the redeployment of forces, and that it would not cause any problems for the security situation in Iraq.

Georgian forces were recently doubled to 2,000, but were scheduled to be reduced to 300 by the end of the summer anyway, with a full withdrawal by the end of 2008.