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Georgian troops, warplanes, pound separatists
Russian armored vehicles have entered the northern edges of the capital of the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, the separatists' press service reported on its website on Friday. "Russian armored vehicles have entered the northern suburbs of Tskhinvali," the website cominf.org reported, adding that Georgian troops had started to retreat.Moscow said its troops were responding to a Georgian assault to re-take the breakaway region, and Georgia's pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili said the two countries were at war. Russia would cut air links with Georgia from midnight on Friday, the Russian Transport Ministry said. Saakashvili told BBC World television Russia had been massing troops on the northern border of Georgia for months. " They have been calling it training exercises, but they have not been concealing the fact that they are training these troops for use inside Georgia," he said. "The way the escalation went was we came first under extensive artillery barrage from the separatists ... but in the end I was told that Russian armored vehicles started to cross the Georgian border. And that was exactly the moment when I had to take this decision to fire back." The United States on Friday asserted its support for Georgia's territorial integrity and urged an immediate ceasefire. NASTO and the European Union have joined calls for a halt to fighting. Posted by: Fred 2008-08-09 |
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