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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Arms drawn in tense Georgian stand-off |
| 2008-08-14 |
| Russian and Georgian troops came close to a fire-fight today as a tense stand-off developed over the continued occupation of the strategic city of Gori. Russian tanks and troops remained at checkpoints blocking the road into Gori and showed no sign of handing it back to the Georgian authorities despite an earlier pledge to do so. Georgian police had been reported as taking back responsibility for patrolling Gori, but this has proved to be premature. Alexander Lomaia, secretary of Georgia's National Security Commission, said that the Russian troops were refusing to leave today, despite a previous agreement to do so, and said that they would not withdraw from Gori until at least tomorrow. "We have to agree on the gradual deployment of troops and police in Gori. But there are mutual suspicions," Mr Lomaia said before entering Gori with a Russian commander to continue negotiations. "They suspect that the forces we are deploying are not police forces. The separatists are trying to intervene and meddle in the situation. It is quite tense and the ceasefire is quite fragile here. "They promise to leave tomorrow. We have many reasons not to believe them but we try to help them to stick to what they have said." Fighters from South Ossetia are reportedly reluctant to surrender control of Gori to the Georgians and to retreat behind the border of their breakaway region. Irregulars among the South Ossetians were also continuing to steal cars belonging to Georgians, though one was returned later by a Russian officer. A Georgian interior ministry spokesman said that Russian forces were "destroying" Gori, about 50 miles north west of Tbilisi. Red-faced with anger, the Russian commander berated the international media at the checkpoint for reporting this claim, saying: "Do you see the city? Is it destroyed? We have not done anything." Fields were on fire outside villages close to Gori, however, and a plume of black smoke rose from behind a hill after an explosion. Journalists were prevented from entering Gori at the checkpoint and a soldier fired shots in the air to drive them away shortly before a series of explosions was heard. The ceasefire came within a hair's breadth of being broken when a convoy of 20 pick-up trucks carrying heavily-armed Georgian troops approached the Russian checkpoint, apparently expecting the Russians to be withdrawing. Eyewitnesses said that the two sides drew weapons and confronted each other for several minutes until the Georgians retreated after Russian soldiers called up tank support. The Times witnessed at least seven Russian tanks and armoured personnel carriers blocking the route into Gori, with soldiers pointing weapons towards Georgian troops about 500 metres away. Thousands of Georgian troops were stationed along the route from Gori to Tbilisi and police had sealed off the road outside the capital to ordinary traffic. A defence attache from a Western embassy was also on the scene to assess military developments. Asked whether Georgia had given advance warning to his and other governments about the decision to invade South Ossetia, he replied: "I don't think any of us were told because if we had been we would have told them they were on their own." |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #1 the georgians dont seem to have given up. not sure Russia can accept that "message" |
| Posted by: supergalitz 2008-08-14 10:52 |