Saakashvili claims control over all S-Ossetia but Java district

TBILISI, August 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Georgian governmental forces fully control Tskhinvali, as well as all districts and residential areas in South Ossetia with the exception of the Java district, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said in a televised address to the nation at 9:30 p.m. Moscow time.

“The city of Tskhinvali has been fully freed from illegal armed units. Unfortunately, Tskhinvali has been damaged greatly in the fire exchanges of the past two days and the intensive bombings done by Russian warplanes today,” he said.

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Georgia to withdraw half of its peacekeepers from Iraq

PARIS, August 9 (Itar-Tass) -- Georgia plans to withdraw half of its peacekeeping contingent in Iraq in connection with the South Ossetian crisis, Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lonmaya told France Presse.

“The Georgian government has decided to withdraw half of its contingent from Iraq. Therefore, 1,000 Georgian troops will leave Iraq shortly,” he said.

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UN Secretary General voices grave concern over violence in S Ossetia

UNITED NATIONS, August 7 (Itar-Tass) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is gravely concerned by the spreading violence in South Ossetia, an independence-seeking region of Georgia, the Secretary General’s official spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters Thursday.

She indicated that Ban Ki-moon urges all the parties to the conflict to refrain from any actions that might jeopardize the situation further and pose threat to stability in the region.

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UN SC failed to make a decision on South Ossetia

UNITED NATIONS, August 9 (Itar-Tass) --The U.N. Security Council has again failed to make a decision on the situation in South Ossetia.

The Security Council members are expected to continue drafting a statement for the press.

It was not announced when the consultations will resume.

The meeting, initiated by Tbilisi, was the second attempt to discuss the situation in the breakaway province of Georgia over the past 24 hours.

Georgia urged the United States and other countries to exert pressure on Russia in order to “stop the armed aggression” in South Ossetia.

“We are asking our friends, including the United States, to be some sort of mediators and try to convince Russia to stop this armed aggression and invasion in Georgia,” Georgian Ambassador in Washington Vasil Sikharulidze said.

Earlier in the day, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the U.S. Department of Defence was closely watching the situation in the region.

He admitted contacts with Georgian authorities but denied that Tbilisi had requested U.S. assistance.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Russia to stop air and missile attacks on Georgia, respect its territorial integrity and withdraw its troops from Georgia.

However Moscow strongly disagrees with such interpretation of events that resulted in the death of Russian peacekeepers and civilians in Tskhinvali.

Late on Friday, during a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev described the actions of the Georgian leadership “which carried out a treacherous and unprovoked attack on Tskhinvali” as “an aggressive military action” directed against Russian peacekeepers and peaceful citizens, the presidential press service said.

“Taking into account the losses in the Russian peacekeeping contingent and numerous casualties among the population of South Ossetia, Russia, which is carrying out its peacekeeping mission in accordance with the relevant international agreements, is taking appropriate measures of a military and political nature in order to ensure an immediate stop to violence and to protect the peaceful citizens – women, children and elderly people – most of whom are citizens of the Russian Federation,” Medvedev said.

“The only possible and reasonable solution in the current situation is a withdrawal of the Georgian troops to their initial positions and urgent signing of a legally binding agreement on the non-use of force. Only after that will it be possible to negotiate measures for deescalating tensions,” the president said.

Earlier in the day, Rice had three telephone conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss the situation in South Ossetia, the Foreign Ministry said.

Lavrov insisted on the immediate withdrawal of Georgian armed units from the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone.

“Lavrov assessed the latest developments in South Ossetia, where Georgian servicemen committed an act of aggression in violation of international laws and caused numerous victims amongst civilians and Russian peacekeepers,” the ministry said. “The minister noted that Georgian servicemen opened massive gunfire at residential areas of Tskhinvali and other South Ossetian towns and launched operations against civilians outside the conflict zone. He also said that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev intended to protect the life and dignity of Russian citizens in line with the constitution and national laws.”

“The minister drew Condoleezza Rice’s attention to the fact that the Georgian administration had long been planning the use of force against the Ossetian people while declaring adherence to the settlement goals. It is necessary to stop the illegal Georgian actions, withdraw Georgian armed units from the conflict zone and resume the fulfillment of earlier agreements,” the ministry said.

EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) Javier Solana also telephoned Lavrov to express his concern about the situation in South Ossetia.

“Lavrov stressed that the current situation requires a principled assessment of the aggressive actions undertaken by the Georgian authorities that have overstepped the norms of international law,” the Foreign Ministry said.

“This resulted in numerous casualties among the peaceful population and Russian peacekeepers,” it said.

Having referred to President Dmitry Medvedev, Lavrov said, “We will do everything we can to protect the life and dignity of the Russian citizens”.

He said “the only acceptable solution in this situation is a withdrawal of the Georgian troops from the conflict zone and restoration of control over it in accordance with the existing agreements.”

“Solana shared the concern about the dangerous developments,” the ministry said, adding that Russia and the European Union would maintain regular contact.

OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb also shared Russia’s concern over the developments in South Ossetia and supported its appeals for normalisation.

”By request of his Finnish colleague, Lavrov assessed the developments in South Ossetia caused by the Georgian onslaught on Tskhinvali. Stubb shared the profound concern and called for normalization,” the ministry said.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner informed Lavrov by telephone that the foreign ministers of the EU Troika will discuss the South Ossetian crisis on August 9.

“The French side initiated the conversation,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

“Lavrov gave a detailed account of the situation in South Ossetia where Georgian servicemen unleashed an aggression that claimed numerous lives amongst civilians and Russian peacekeepers,” the ministry said. “He put an emphasis on the intention of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to protect life and dignity of Russian citizens in line with the constitution and national laws.”

“The French minister said that the Europeans targeted for signing a ceasefire agreement. Lavrov said it was the most important to achieve the pullout of Georgian armed units from the conflict zone,” the ministry said.

According to the latest reports about casualties among Russian peacekeepers, 12 Russian peacekeepers died and 50 were wounded in South Ossetia, an aide to the commander of Russia’s land forces, Colonel Igor Konashenkov said.

“Two servicemen died because of the impossibility to take them to North Ossetia and give skilled medical aid, in addition to the ten previous deaths,” he said.

In his words, about 50 Russian peacekeepers were wounded in Georgian gunfire.

Meanwhile, the Russian government has instructed the Emergencies Ministry to coordinate humanitarian assistance to South Ossetia.

“The Russian Emergencies Ministry has been instructed to coordinate aid to South Ossetia,” Deputy Emergencies Minister Alexander Chupriyan told Vesti television.

“We have set up a coordination centres at our headquarters in Moscow,” he said.

“Our task set by the government of Russia is absolutely peaceful: to help the refugees,” Chupriyan said.

“We will act as quickly as possible assess the situation and make the decision,” he said.

A plane of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry carrying an airmobile hospital, doctors and a ministry task force has departed for Vladikavkaz.

An Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane took off from the Ramenskoye airfield in the Moscow region at 10:22 p.m. local time on Friday.

“It will deliver the hospital, doctors, a task force and psychologists to North Ossetia,”

ministry spokesperson Irina Andrianova told Itar-Tass.

Chupriyan will be in charge of the 60-people task force.

The hospital will be deployed in the Alagir district of North Ossetia. An interdepartmental group led by the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry will be operational in that district. “The group will accommodate refugees from South Ossetia. It will be made up of representatives of the Regional Development Ministry, the Transport Ministry, the Health and Social Development Ministry, the Federal Migration Service and administrations of the Southern Federal District,” Andrianova said.

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Russia takes appropriate measures to stop violence in S Ossetia

MOSCOW, August 9 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia is talking appropriate military and political measures to stop violence in South Ossetia, President Dmitry Medvedev said in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday.

During the conversation, initiated by Merkel, Medvedev described the actions of the Georgia leadership “which carried out a treacherous and unprovoked attack on Tskhinvali” as “an aggressive military action” directed against Russian peacekeepers and peaceful citizens, the presidential press service said.

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Children evacuated from South Ossetia to Kabardino-Balkaria

VLADIKAVKAZ, August 7 (Itar-Tass) - Rescuers of the North Ossetian branch of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations have evacuated 210 children and grown-ups who accompany them from the South Ossetian town of Dzhava, Deputy Chief of the North Ossetian branch of the Ministry for Emergency Situations Vladimir Ivanov said Thursday.

“North Ossetian rescuers will accompany the convoy with children along the Roksky tunnel via the Russian territory to the administrative border with Kabardino-Balkaria, where the children will be turned over to representatives of Kabardino-Balkaria, which expressed readiness to accept the children to rest in Kabardino-Balkaria, Ivanov said.

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Injured from South Ossetia begin to be brought to North Ossetia

VLADIKAVKAZ, August 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Ambulances carrying injured from South Ossetia have begun to cross into North Ossetia through the Nizhni Zaramag customs checkpoint, the chief of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry’s rescue team, Sergei Shchetinin, has told Itar-Tass.

“The situation at the customs checkpoint is strained. A crowd of North Ossetians anxious about the fate of their relatives has gathered there, but no information is available at this point,” he said.

The Emergency Situations Ministry plans to delegate professional psychologists to extend assistance to the injured and to the residents of North Ossetia. So far psychologists have been helping children brought from South Ossetia over the previous several days. Many of them have missing relatives in the besieged republic. The district hospital in the town of Alagir has begun to accommodate patients from South Ossetia. Doctors at the reception say every essential is in place to render medical assistance to patients, including those seriously hurt. Only a very small share of those injured during Georgian bombardments has been brought to North Ossetia, though.

According to the Emergency Situations Ministry some people managed to get to the town of Dzhava on their own. There has been no chance of evacuating injured from Tskhinvali and the ruined villages so far.

North Ossetian women gathered for a rally in Vladikavkaz on Friday to emphatically demand the authorities of the self-proclaimed republic should ask Russia for assistance. People in Vladikavkaz have been receiving pleas for help to their mobiles from relatives in Tskhinvali. According to the messages, the death toll is already estimated at hundreds.

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Russian airlines suspend flights to Georgia

MOSCOW, August 8 (Itar-Tass) - Russia’s two leading airlines, Aeroflot and S7 /Sibir/ said Friday they were suspending flights to Georgia. “A decision has been taken to suspend flights to Georgia,” Aeroflot’s press secretary Irina Danenberg told Itar-Tass, adding that the decision had been taken in the follow-up to the Russian Transport Ministry’s instruction to cancel air traffic between Russia and Georgia. Aeroflot makes flights between Moscow and the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

S7 press secretary Irina Kolesnikova said the airline was suspending flights to Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi. “Our staff will contact shortly the passengers who purchased tickets for these flights and will tell them about the causes of cancellations and where and how they will be able to get back their money,” she said.

Representatives of the Georgian airline Airzena, which makes commercial flights to Russia on the Georgian side, declined to comment on the situation.

S7 makes three flights a week between Moscow and Tbilisi, one flight to Kutaisi and one flight to Batumi. Aeroflot makes six flights a week between Moscow and Tbilisi, and Airzena has daily flights between the two capitals. S7 sources told Prime-Tass economic news agency earlier in the day the Georgian aviation authorities had sent a telegram requiring a change of the traditional route that crosses the territory of Ossetia and telling the airline to fly via Azerbaijan.

Regular flights between Russia and Georgia resumed in spring after an interval that had lasted a year and a half.

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Saakashvili makes last mistake in his political career – Rogozin

BRUSSELS, August 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili made the last mistake in his political career when he opened fire at Russian citizens and peacekeepers, Russian Permanent Representative to NATO Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday. He had ended his vacation ahead of time and came to Brussels.

“In fact, the Georgian president breached the sovereignty of Russia and committed a war crime that could not be forgiven. He had crossed the line which normal politicians were not allowed to cross,” Rogozin said.

The date of attack on South Ossetia “was not accidental,” Rogozin said. “Obviously, Saakashvili hoped that the world would be focused on the opening of the Olympic Games and the Georgian aggression would draw less attention,” he said. He also said that consultations on the situation in South Ossetia would be held with NATO representatives in order to convey objective information.

Russia has three goals in South Ossetia: “full ceasefire, minimization of victims and protection of Russian citizens,” Rogozin said.

“We will convey this information to NATO. Our actions will be coordinated with the president and the prime minister,” he noted. Rogozin said that an urgent meting of the Russia-NATO Council was unlikely. Saakashvili “is trying to involve in the conflict as many sides as possible,” he said. “He has involved Russia with opening fire at Russian citizens and peacekeepers. Now he is trying to involve other states and international organizations,” he said. Excessive diplomatic reaction will help him achieve this goal, Rogozin remarked.

The alliance “has taken a detached and neutral position. It is receiving and analyzing information. Our NATO partners have had enough time to take a close look at Saakashvili and to understand his game,” Rogozin said.

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Russian peacekeepers in fierce fighting with Georgian units on Tskhinvali outskirts

MOSCOW, August 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian peacekeeping units in the unrecognized republic of South Ossetia are engaged in a fierce combat action with Georgia's regular army units on the outskirts of the regional capital Tskhinvali, spokespeople for the peacekeepers command said.

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12 Russian peacekeepers dead, 50 wounded in S-Ossetia

MOSOW, August 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Twelve Russian peacekeepers died and 50 were injured in South Ossetia, Russian Army Assistant Commander Col. Igor Konashenkov told Itar-Tass with the reference to updated information.

“Two servicemen died because of the impossibility to take them to North Ossetia and give skilled medical aid, in addition to the ten previous deaths,” he said.

In his words, about 50 Russian peacekeepers were injured in Georgian gunfire.

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Fighting with Russia spreads to cities across Georgia

TBLISI, Georgia (CNN) -- Bombs rocked Tbilisi early Saturday morning as the fight between Georgia and Russia over a breakaway region intensified and moved into the Georgian capital.

Government buildings, including the Parliament, were evacuated when the bombs fell.

Heavy casualties have reported on both sides since Russian forces moved Friday into South Ossetia, a pro-Russian autonomous region of Georgia.

Russian bombers were targeting Georgia's economic infrastructure, National Security Council secretary Alexander Lomaia said, including the country's largest Black Sea port, Poti, and the main road connecting the southern part of Georgia with the east and the airport.

Georgian television reported that the port had been destroyed.

Georgia, a former Soviet state, sent troops into South Ossetia on Thursday, aiming to crack down on the separatists, who want independence or unification with North Ossetia, which is in Russia. Russia responded Friday, sending troops into the Georgian province where it had peacekeepers stationed.

"I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars," Lyudmila Ostayeva, a resident of the South Ossetia capital, Tskhinvali, told The Associated Press on Friday.

"It's impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged," she said after fleeing to a village near the Russian border, AP reported.

"They are killing civilians, women and children, with heavy artillery and rockets," Sarmat Laliyev, 28, told AP.

One U.S. State Department official called the conflict a "very dangerous situation" and said diplomatic moves are afoot around the globe to stop it.

Georgia -- on the Black Sea coast between Russia and Turkey -- appealed for diplomatic intervention. Watch Georgian minister describe fighting in South Ossetia »

Georgia asked the United States for planes to bring back its 2,000 troops serving as part of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, a U.S. official said.

"All day today, they've been bombing Georgia from numerous warplanes and specifically targeting [the] civilian population, and we have scores of wounded and dead among [the] civilian population all around the country," Georgia's president, Mikhail Saakashvili, said Friday. "This is the worst nightmare one can encounter." Watch the interview with Saakashvili »

Russia's ambassador to United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, put the blame on the Tblisi government.

"What is going on is a massive bombardment of residential quarters in Tshkinvali and other towns, too," Churkin said.

Eduard Kokoity, head of the rebel government in South Ossetia, said that 1,400 people were killed in the province, according to Russia's Interfax news agency.

Hundreds of people, possibly thousands, are fleeing South Ossetia to the Russian region of North Ossetia-Alania, the United Nations reported Friday, citing Russian officials.

About 150 Russian armored vehicles have entered South Ossetia, Saakashvili said, and Georgian forces had shot down two Russian aircraft. Watch the Russian tanks moving into the area »

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, quoted by Interfax, said Russians had died because of Georgian military operations in South Ossetia.

Russia "will not allow the deaths of our compatriots to go unpunished," and "those guilty will receive due punishment," he said. "My duty as Russian president is to safeguard the lives and dignity of Russian citizens, wherever they are. This is what is behind the logic of the steps we are undertaking now."

South Ossetia, with a population of about 70,000, declared independence from Georgia in the early 1990s, but it was not internationally recognized. Many ethnic Ossetians feel close to Russia and have Russian passports and use its currency. iReport.com: Are you there? Share your photos, videos

Interfax quoted the Georgian Foreign Ministry as saying that strikes by Russian aircraft killed and wounded personnel at a Georgian air base and that Russian planes have been bombing Georgian territory throughout the day. Georgian officials also report four Russian aircraft shot down.

The U.S., NATO and the European Union have all called for an end to the fighting. President Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin discussed the conflict Friday, the White House confirmed.

By early evening Friday, a Georgian Cabinet minister said the country's forces have taken control of Tskhinvali, Interfax reported.

The Novosti news agency, citing the South Ossetian government, said Georgian tanks and infantry attacked Tskhinvali, and "a large part of the city has been destroyed. Over 15 civilians have been killed, several buildings are on fire in the city center, and the local parliament building has burned down."

But Russian and South Ossetian officials said Russia was making inroads in fighting Georgian forces.

"Street fighting in Tskhinvali has lasted for many hours. Ossetian home guards are using grenade-launchers to destroy Georgian tanks. Eyewitnesses say tanks are burning throughout the city. The turning point is approaching in the battle for the capital city," said the Web site of the South Ossetian Information and Press Committee.

The committee also said Russian armored vehicles have entered the northern suburb of the city.

Violence has been mounting in the region in recent days, with sporadic clashes between Georgian forces and South Ossetian separatists.

Georgian troops launched attacks in South Ossetia late Thursday after a top government official said a unilateral cease-fire offer was met with separatist artillery fire.

Lomaia said Georgian troops responded proportionately to separatist mortar and artillery attacks on two villages, attacks he said followed the cease-fire and Saakashvili's call for negotiations.

Russian peacekeepers are in South Ossetia under a 1992 agreement by Russian, Georgian and South Ossetian authorities to maintain what has been a fragile peace. The mixed peacekeeping force also includes Georgian and South Ossetian troops.

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