Russia Signs Georgia Truce That Sets Stage for Troop Withdrawal
Jack Linthicum
the agreement.
A top Russian military official denied that Russian forces destroyed
the bridge but also acknowledged that its forces were still operating
in Georgia.
"I am telling you with all responsibility that this could not have
happened," Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, a deputy chief of staff of
the Russian armed forces, told a daily briefing.
"When we were involved in combat actions as part of the peacekeeping
operation, bridges were our targets indeed. But now, when there is
peace, why should we blow up bridges? It is us who would have to
restore them. We are working hard there," Nogovitsyn said, according
to remarks translated by the news agency Interfax.
Remember someone else who liked to say he was doing "hard work"?
Russia Signs Georgia Truce That Sets Stage for Troop Withdrawal
Bush Applauds 'Hopeful Step' but Says Georgia Must Keep Separatist
Provinces
By Fredrick Kunkle and Peter Finn
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, August 16, 2008; 11:15 AM
MOSCOW, Aug. 16 -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has signed the
modified cease-fire agreement with Georgia that U.S. officials say
will require Russian troops to immediately return to positions held
before hostilities broke out last week.
A pull-out, however, will not begin until "extra security measures"
ordered by Medvedev are completed, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told
reporters, according to the Reuters news agency. "The president issued
an order to the relevant authorities to start the adoption of extra
security measures envisaged in the six-point plan," he said. "As these
security measures are implemented, the withdrawal of forces sent to
carry out this reinforcement operation will be carried out." Lavrov
did not describe what the measures swere.
President Bush, speaking from his ranch in Crawford, Tex., after a
briefing from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, called the Russian
acceptance of the cease-fire a "hopeful step." But he sternly asserted
that "now Russia needs to honor the agreement and withdraw its
forces." He also reiterated U.S. contention that the two separatist
provinces at the heart of the conflict are part of Georgia and cannot
be annexed by Russia.
"A major issue is Russia's contention that the region of South Ossetia
and Abkhazia may not be part of Georgia's future," he said. "These
regions are a part of Georgia and the international community has
repeatedly made clear that they will remain so. . . . There's no room
for debate on this matter."
He said Rice will be traveling to Brussels to meet with European
leaders to "to continue to rally the free world in defense of a free
Georgia."
Medvedev signed the six-point agreement on Saturday at the Black Sea
resort of Sochi after meeting with Russia's Security Council, a
Russian news agency reported.
A day earlier, Rice said that the cease-fire agreement required
Russia's immediate withdrawal to positions it held before the fighting
began. She spoke in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, shortly after
President Mikheil Saakashvili signed the French-brokered accord.
The crisis began last week when Georgian troops moved into the
separatist province of South Ossetia. Moscow responded with military
forces, arguing that they were protecting many of the residents of
South Ossetia who hold Russian citizenship, and quickly pushed back
the Georgian troops. The Russian troop, however, moved beyond South
Ossetia and another separatist province, Abkhazia, and have occupied
areas deep into Georgia. Russian leaders this week have said that the
provinces will not revert to Georgian authority. Despite calls by the
United States to comply, Russian troops have shown no hurry to leave
and there appeared to be little movement Saturday. AGeorgian official
Saturday accused Russian troops of destroying a railroad bridge about
30 miles from the capital of Tbilisi that is part of a key rail line
that connects Tbilisi with the Black Sea port of Poti. Reuters said
members of one of its film crews found a pile of twisted steel and
rubble at one end of the bridge. Other reporters said track had been
damaged but the bridge was still standing.
A top Russian military official denied that Russian forces destroyed
the bridge but also acknowledged that its forces were still operating
in Georgia.
"I am telling you with all responsibility that this could not have
happened," Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, a deputy chief of staff of
the Russian armed forces, told a daily briefing.
"When we were involved in combat actions as part of the peacekeeping
operation, bridges were our targets indeed. But now, when there is
peace, why should we blow up bridges? It is us who would have to
restore them. We are working hard there," Nogovitsyn said, according
to remarks translated by the news agency Interfax.
Nogovitsyn also said today that Russian troops had left the Georgian
cities of Gori and Poti but were operating nearby. "Our units are on
the outskirts of Gori now, where large arsenals of Georgian weapons,
including 15 tanks, have been discovered," he said.
Nogovitsyn said the Russian military was assisting local authorities
in South Ossetia to keep order and protect against looting. He said
the redeployment of Russian troops in Georgian territory will take
place "later" but did not specify when.
Nogovitsyn added that there was set no timetable for Russian forces to
leave Abkhazia and South Ossetia. He said Russia was still bound by
prior commitments to act as peacekeepers in the disputed territory.
Rice Friday said international observers may arrive in Georgia within
a few days, and called for "a more robust and impartial peacekeeping
international force" to follow. Prior to the conflict, Russia had
installed its own peacekeeping forces in the disputed regions.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-ossetia17-2008aug17,0,5302823.story
From the Los Angeles Times
Russian forces destroy key Georgian bridge
The move came a day after the Georgian president signed a French-
backed cease-fire proposal during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice.
By Megan K. Stack and Borzou Daragahi
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
August 17, 2008
IGOETI, Georgia -- Russia and its allied forces today destroyed a key
railway bridge linking this war-weary country's capital to the Western
Black Sea coast, effectively severing all east-west transportation
routes within the small country, the Georgian foreign ministry
announced.
Russian soldiers occupying the central Georgian town of Gori also
pushed forward 14 miles toward the capital, setting up positions on
the country's main east-west road 25 miles from Tbilisi. Adjacent
agricultural fields were set afire, apparently by Russian soldiers.
Russian soldiers interviewed along the road between Russian-controlled
Gori and Igoeti said their mission was to protect the road. They could
be seen hiking up toward hilltop positions and setting up checkpoints
and tank positions and conducting what appeared to be foot patrols.
Nearby villagers were in a panic.
Russian troops in military convoys garrisoned in Gori for several days
have numerous times moved toward the capital before heading quickly
back. Today marked the first time they set up positions so close to
the capital.
The destruction of the bridge in the country's Kaspi district
"resulted in the severing of railway links between the east and west
of Georgia and connections with Georgia's seaports," said a news
release issued by the Georgian foreign ministry.
The Russian moves came a day after Georgian president Mikheil
Saakashvili signed a French-backed cease-fire proposal during a visit
by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The U.S. envoy was the highest-ranking American official to visit
Georgia since war over control of the Russian-backed separatist
enclave in the country broke out Aug. 7. She called on Russia to
remove troops and allied paramilitary forces out of Georgia proper or
else face diplomatic and possible economic isolation.
"Russia needs to leave Georgia at once," she said at a news conference
Friday. "This is no longer 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia,
when a great power invaded a small neighbor and overthrew its
government," she added, in reference to the Soviet Union's crushing of
the "Prague Spring" liberalization movement.
But Russian officials sounded ever more defiant, vowing again that
Georgia would never get back its breakaway regions.
"Unfortunately, after what has happened it is unlikely that the
Ossetians and the Abkhazians will be able to live in one state
together with the Georgians," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said
at a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who met
Medvedev in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in an effort to defuse the
crisis.
The dispute appeared to be rippling out of the Caucuses to rock
broader East-West relations. President Bush said from the White House
Rose Garden on Friday that Russia was trying to act like a Cold War
superpower, browbeating its smaller neighbors.
"With its actions in recent days, Russia has damaged its credibility
and its relations with the nations of the free world," Bush said.
"Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign
policy in the 21st century."
The origins of the conflict remain murky, with both Russians and
Georgians accusing each other of sparking the war. But one European
official said Russia could be held accountable for its actions inside
Georgia.
"We saw that many of the reactions of the Russian army in Georgian
territory are exceeding the boundaries of international law," said
Laimonas Talat-Kepsa, a high-ranking Lithuanian diplomat in Tbilisi.
He was referring to the alleged targeting of civilians and public
infrastructure by Russian and Russian-backed forces in various parts
of Georgia.
"This disproportionate use of force continues," he said.
August 17, 2008
Kremlin Agrees to Framework for Cease-Fire in Georgia
By CLIFFORD J. LEVY and ANDREW E. KRAMER
MOSCOW — A day after the American secretary of state Condoleezza Rice
went to Georgia, not far from the front lines, to press for immediate
withdrawal of Russian forces there, the Kremlin announced on Saturday
that it had approved a framework for a cease-fire.
The Russian president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, signed the six-point
settlement after meeting with Russian security officials, the Kremlin
press office said. But it did not specify whether Russia had
specifically assented to revisions in one of the provisions, which the
Georgians had considered a loophole that Russia could use to justify
its advance deep into Georgia.
And on the ground in Georgia on Saturday, the situation remained
largely unchanged, with Russian troops occupying large swaths of
territory.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, told reporters that
Russian troops would stay in Georgia “as long as needed.” He said
their withdrawal would depend on the introduction of what he referred
to as “additional security measures.”
At his ranch in Crawford, Tex., President Bush was briefed Saturday
morning by Ms. Rice and told reporters that he considered the signing
of the cease-fire to be a "hopeful step." He added, "Now Russia needs
to honor the agreement and withdraw its forces.
Ms. Rice visited Tbilisi on Friday to show support for Georgia, an
American ally, and to win the approval of the Georgian president for a
redefined cease-fire. As Ms. Rice spoke at a news conference, a
Russian column of at least a dozen armored vehicles moved to within
roughly 25 miles of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, by far the
Russians’ closest approach to the city.
The battle of words on Friday sharpened as well: Mr. Medvedev accused
the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, of harboring “idiotic
ideas” that had provoked the war.
Mr. Saakashvili, emotive and hyperbolic compared with the measured Ms.
Rice at his side, in turn referred to the Russians as “21st-century
barbarians” who had essentially raped Georgia.
A top Russian general said that Poland, which the day before agreed to
house an American antimissile system in its territory, had “100
percent” exposed itself to possible Russian retaliation. Polish
officials agreed to the pact with the United States soon after the
Russian attacks on Georgia, after months of expressing doubts on the
issue.
Georgia has remained tense after several days of fighting left tens of
thousands of people homeless and thrust the United States and Russia
into a cold-war-like confrontation. In Washington, Mr. Bush on Friday
warned of repercussions from events in a “small country halfway around
the world.”
The humanitarian situation in Georgian villages in Russian-controlled
areas continued to worsen on Friday. Georgia’s minister of health,
Alexander Kvitashvili, estimated in an interview that as many as 3,000
people were trapped in Georgian villages, unable to come out for fear
that marauding South Ossetians would kill them.
Bodies of Georgian soldiers still lay sprawled on streets in areas
controlled by Russian forces, witnesses said, creating a horrible
stench.
The number of Georgian deaths since the beginning of the conflict is
175, Mr. Kvitashvili said, including 115 soldiers. That number is
expected to grow, as Georgian villages start to become accessible, and
bodies are brought to morgues.
Besides offering vocal backing for Georgia, Ms. Rice, after about five
hours of talks with Mr. Saakashvili, persuaded him to sign a revised
version of the cease-fire framework that had originally been hammered
out on Wednesday.
The six-point arrangement had been negotiated by the French president,
Nicolas Sarkozy, but a dispute soon followed over one of its
provisions, which the Russians had interpreted as allowing them to
maintain a military presence on Georgian territory outside the two
disputed enclaves, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Ms. Rice brought with her a letter from Mr. Sarkozy clarifying that
this provision would not apply to populated areas or the main east-
west highway that is the country’s lifeline, said Giga Bokeria,
Georgia’s deputy foreign minister. That would mean, Ms. Rice argued,
that the Russians would have to withdraw from Gori, a strategically
important city 40 miles west of Tbilisi.
“With the signing of this accord, all Russian troops, and any
paramilitary and irregular troops that entered with them, must leave
immediately,” she said at the news conference.
The vagueness of the original provision appeared to have allowed the
Russians to justify their occupation of Gori even after the two
countries had agreed to the cease-fire framework.
A senior Western diplomat in Tbilisi, speaking on the condition of
anonymity under normal diplomatic rules, contended that the Russian
military maneuvers near the capital on Friday around the time of the
Rice visit were deliberate. The diplomat said troops were “moving
around to weaken the civilian administration and perhaps create the
conditions for political upheaval down the line.”
American officials said Friday that Mr. Sarkozy had signed the
original six-point agreement and attached the letter. French diplomats
then presented the six-point plan with the signatures of Mr.
Saakashvili and Mr. Sarkozy to the Kremlin.
Russia announced late Friday night that Mr. Sarkozy had called Mr.
Medvedev, and that the two had spoken about the cease-fire agreement.
At the news conference here in Tbilisi, Mr. Saakashvili, who has not
shied in recent days from criticizing Russia with provocative
language, offered a host of historical analogies in his effort to
portray Georgia’s plight, comparing it to the Eastern European nations
that had been vassals of the Soviet Union.
It was a remarkable scene, with Mr. Saakashvili fulminating about
Russia’s determination to destroy even swimming pools while European
leaders were trying to secure Russia’s agreement to the cease-fire
framework.
“There can be no negotiated capitulations and negotiated dismemberment
of smaller countries by bigger ones,” Mr. Saakashvili said.
He said that even though he was signing the cease-fire framework, he
was not giving up Georgia’s claim to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which
are close allies of Moscow. The fighting between Georgia and Russia
erupted last week over South Ossetia.
Ms. Rice used more diplomatic and terse language, reiterating the
White House’s view that if Russia wanted to be considered a respected
member of the international community, it needed to honor its
commitment to a peaceful settlement.
A few hours earlier, at the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Mr. Medvedev
met with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who has often sought to
act as a bridge between the United States and Russia. At a joint news
conference after their meeting, Mrs. Merkel trod a careful line,
saying that Russia’s military action was “not proportionate” but that
“both sides are probably to blame for the conflict.”
She repeated demands from the United States and other European leaders
that Russia pull its troops from Georgia. She also left open the
possibility that Georgia could still join NATO, a prospect that has
infuriated Russia, though analysts have suggested that the likelihood
of Georgia being admitted is now very slim.
Mr. Medvedev, for his part, hewed to the Kremlin’s position that
Georgia can never again have sovereignty over South Ossetia and
Abkhazia. Russia has said Georgia instigated the hostilities, and
called Mr. Saakashvili a war criminal.
“The entire responsibility for the conflict, for the cruel actions
committed, rests upon the shoulders of the Georgian leadership,” Mr.
Medvedev said.
Georgia was not the only strain on relations between the United States
and Russia.
Earlier on Friday, a top Russian defense official rebuked Washington
over the deal it had reached with Poland on Thursday on an American
antimissile system.
The Russian official, Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, indicated that
Poland was making itself a target by agreeing to serve as host for the
antimissile system, which Washington said was intended to ward off
threats from countries like Iran, not Russia. Such an action “cannot
go unpunished,” he said.
He also raised the question of whether the United States might be
sending military aid into Georgia as part of the humanitarian airlift
that began this week.
“We would like to know whether it is humanitarian or military,” he
said.
He said Georgians had exaggerated the damage their country sustained
during the war, and denied that the Russian side used cluster bombs
against Georgians. Human Rights Watch said Friday that Russian
aircraft had dropped cluster bombs on Tuesday in two raids on the
towns of Ruisi and Gori, killing at least 11 civilians.
There were no reports of hostilities in the eastern part of Georgia on
Friday, but Georgian troops in the western city of Kutaisi, about 50
miles from the Black Sea coast, said they were bracing as a Russian
armored patrol advanced from the west.
Farther east, refugees emerging from the conflict zone in the
separatist territory of South Ossetia told of looters roaming through
villages. Russians retained control of the central Georgian city of
Gori on Friday.
In the west of the country, an armed Russian patrol traveled inland to
the town of Abasha, which is about 23 miles from the Black Sea, then
later returned to a temporary base at Senaki.
Raymond O'Hara
"Jack Linthicum" <jackli...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:340b83d7-71c8-4acd...@d1g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
Seems to accomplished very little, each story describes violations of
the agreement.
A top Russian military official denied that Russian forces destroyed
it's enough to allow bush to save face,
William Black
"Jack Linthicum" <jackli...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:340b83d7-71c8-4acd...@d1g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
Russia Signs Georgia Truce That Sets Stage for Troop Withdrawal
Bush Applauds 'Hopeful Step' but Says Georgia Must Keep Separatist
Provinces
-----------------------
There's no withdrawal timetable.
Russia is continuing to, as the BBC so accurately described it, 'trash the
Georgian Armed Forces'.
Bush seems to be watching impotently as the Russians do what he and his did
to Bosnia.
What is deeply scary is that everyone outside the USA, and a fair few
inside, are having trouble hiding their delight at the ghastly sight of US
foreign policy coming horribly unravelled once again, to the extent that
nobody's noticed that Musharaf in Pakistan is about to get the sack (he may
just stay out of jail if he's lucky) and US foreign policy in Pakistan and
Afghanistan is also in ruins.
--
William Black
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.