Georgia - Russia - South Ossetia
Russian Duma votes for rebel regions' independence
Monday 25 August 2008
Russia's parliament, the State Duma, has called on President Dmitry Medvedev to recognise Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. The US called it "unacceptable".
Monday 25 August 2008
By AFP (text) / S. Sitbon (video)See FRANCE 24's exclusive interview with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
The Russian parliament voted Monday to recognise two breakaway Georgian regions as independent nations, prompting a flurry of diplomatic warnings amid a deepening freeze in relations.
Russia also toughened its line with the West, with President Dmitry Medvedev saying Moscow was ready to break with NATO and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announcing that Russia will withdraw from some WTO trade accords.
With Russian troops still deep in Georgia, both houses of the Russian parliament passed motions urging Medvedev to recognise the independence of South Ossetia -- where the conflict began this month -- and Abkhazia.
The two regions are internationally recognised as part of Georgia, where Russian troops rolled in on August 8 to fight off a Georgian offensive to retake South Ossetia.
Addressing the Federation Council upper house, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity said Russia had saved his region from "genocide".
He asserted there was more political and legal legitimacy to recognising South Ossetia's independence than there had been for Kosovo, the Serbian province which broke free with EU and US backing.
Abkhaz leader, Sergei Bagapsh, said: "Neither Abkhazia nor South Ossetia will ever again live in one state with Georgia."
The final decision on recognition rests with Medvedev, who has already signalled his support for independence.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Russia was making "an attempt to change Europe's borders by force," in an interview with French newspaper Liberation.
The Russian parliament vote heightened international concern.
"I call on Russia's leadership to meet its commitments and not recognise these separatist regions," US president George W. Bush said in a statement.
"Georgia's territorial integrity and borders must command the same respect as every other nation's, including Russia's," he said. "The United States will continue to stand with the people of Georgia and their democracy and to support its sovereignty and territorial integrity."
The Group of Seven nations -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- also expressed concern.
"The G7 is united in support for Georgia's territorial integrity and alarmed by reports of Russian plans to recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia," a US State Department official said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the vote was "worrying".
"That decision is not going to help things, it only adds to the tension in the region," a British Foreign Office spokeswoman said.
The European Union signalled growing impatience with Russia when French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a special European summit on the Georgia crisis for September 1.
Russia withdrew tanks, artillery and hundreds of troops from their most advanced positions in Georgia on Friday. But Russian troops still control access to the port city of Poti, south of Abkhazia, and have established other checkpoints around South Ossetia.
Russia claims a six-point peace plan brokered by Sarkozy gives it the right to leave "peacekeepers" deep inside Georgia in a buffer zone, but Western nations say Russian troops must pull back further.
A Russian general said Monday that Russian troops would also search cargo arriving at the port in Poti.
In a new show of US support to its ally Georgia and other Western-looking former Soviet states, the White House said Vice President Cheney will visit Georgia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan next week.
Cheney will be the most senior US official to visit the region since the crisis erupted, plunging relations between Moscow and the West to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.
A US destroyer, the USS McFaul, carrying relief supplies arrived at the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi on Sunday, and two other naval ships were en route to Georgia.
Russia has accused NATO countries of using humanitarian aid as "cover" for a build-up of naval forces in the Black Sea.
Medvedev said on Monday Russia was prepared for a full break in relations with NATO but urged the Western alliance to avert a rupture.
"We will take any decision including up to a complete break in relations" if NATO decides to suspend cooperation with Russia, Medvedev was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying.
Medvedev said Russia's relations with NATO had become "complicated" over the Georgia conflict. "There has been a dramatic worsening of our relations, but we are not to blame," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.
Adding to the diplomatic souring, Putin, his predecessor and mentor, said Russia had decided to withdraw from some agreements reached during negotiations to join the World Trade Organisation.
Western nations have warned Russia's aspirations to join the WTO were at risk over its actions in Georgia.
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IN THE FIELD
"This could be a way for Russia to maintain its soldiers in the region" - FRANCE 24's Romain Goguelin in Moscow, 25/08/08
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IN THE FIELD
"The parliamentarians interrupted their vacations for this extraordinary session" - FRANCE 24's Romain Goguelin in Moscow, 25/08/08, 10 a.m. (GMT +2)
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RECLAIMING SENAKI
After Russian troops ransacked Senaki military base, Georgians return to inspect the damage. Report by G. Cragg. 24/08
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GEORGIA'S GHOST TOWN
"The Russians destroyed us. Of course we're happy to see them go." Story: Florence Villeminot. 23/08/08
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THE MEDIA'S MIGHT
"The media have become vital". Catherine Norris Trent reports for France 24. 22/08/08
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FR24 REPORT
Prisoner exchange begins (Report: R. Goguelin, S. Silke, 22/08)
Vidéo
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29/08/2008 23:03:56 Alert a moderator
'Georgia's fate lies in European hands'
By David Dzidzikashvili - Cambridge, MA, USA
Unfortunately that is the reality... Georgian citizens are hoping that the old Europe would not make the same mistake as they did in 1939 with Poland and Czechoslovakia. Europe needs to stand up against the Russian barbarians - Putin and medvedev.
27/08/2008 01:30:18 Alert a moderator
Truth about war in Ossetia that is overlooked by BBC and CNN
By Andrey Antonov - London
At 7 p.m. on August 8, the day when Olympics started, worldwide community heard from CNN and BBC news that Russian tanks invaded Georgia and that Russia started war with Georgia.
That the war had begun 16 hours earlier by Georgian president Sukashvili’s order these media preferred to pass over in silence.
But you have the right to know truth. That’s how this really happened:
According to old tradition of Olympic Games’ eve everyone was looking for peace and quiet. On August 7, Georgian and South Ossetian officials agreed to observe a ceasefire and hold debates in attempt to solve their long-term conflict peacefully.
August 8, 00:06
Just hours later, six minutes past midnight on August 8, inhabitants of Ossetian capital Tskhinvali, peacefully sleeping in their beds, heard dreadful whizz of incoming rockets. The hell followed soon... Without any declaration Georgian forces launched massive shelling of Tskhinvali with all available means, including heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems GRAD. In this massacre, in just several hours, the whole city was ruined: 2,000 human lives wasted and 85% of all buildings demolished. Georgian military expedition, called “Clean field”, yielded its first fruits…
August 8, 03:00
Georgian army occupied five Ossetian villages, burning them to ashes.
August 8, 03:30
Georgian tanks started attack on Tskhinvali. Ossetian militia stood up to the enemy but could not keep back 30-times outnumbering Georgian forces. Many basements where Ossetins tried to escape shelling were showered with grenades. At the very same time, Georgian “peacekeepers”, serving in South Ossetia, launched unexampled attack on their yesterday’s colleagues, Russian peacekeepers, managing to kill at least 10 of them.
August 8, 04:33
Russia called for UN Security Council meeting to put a stop to Georgian military aggression and seize fire. No decision was delivered at neither this nor several following meetings.
August 8, 09:00
Russian Prime Minister Putin informed President Bush that Georgia launched war against Ossetia. Mr. Bush answered that “nobody wanted this war”.
Ossetia was praying for help. It was already obvious that “clean field” meant nothing else but ethnical cleansing. In these circumstances, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced that Russia would defend Russian citizens who constitute 90% of South Ossetia population.
August 8, 16:00
Russian forces overstepped mountain pass and made their way toward perishing Ossetins. That was exactly the moment when CNN and BBC finally “noticed” the war and broadcasted their «Russians invaded Georgia» scenes. Sukashvili announced that Russia invaded Georgia and held back that he started this horrible bloodshed himself.
Before midnight, Russian and Ossetian forces kicked aggressors out of Ossetian capital. Survived citizens started to leave basements to escape the city. In the next couple days around 30,000 refugees fled to Russia.
Failed Georgian assault turned to informational blackout and devilish propaganda. It’s time when so much depends on your personal position! We believe that there will be journalists who can give objective picture of these events. We believe in people of peace who will regard an attempt of massive extermination of small nation as genocide (3% of South Ossetins and 0.3% of all Ossetins worldwide were killed in just one night on August 8; fascists have never achieved that efficiency in exterminating Jewish people even when Auschwitz and Treblinka were working at full capacity). We believe in a world community that will view Sukashvili’s inhuman orders as war crime and an outrage on humanity. We believe in you, thinking person, able to confront with facts, person who will not follow barefaced propaganda of politicized and deeply corrupt media, person able to recognize truth!
26/08/2008 10:46:50 Alert a moderator
Abkhazia & south ossetia should never be recognised?
By dave jones - auckland
In response to Tom Bost's comment that Abkhazia & south ossetia should never be recognised, he fails to mention that when Georgia was annexed by the Russian empire in 1801, it came without either one of the breakaway regions. When Abkhazia was incorporated into Georgia in 1931, by Stalin. The then Georgian leader, Lavrenty Beria, supported by Stalin (himself half Georgian) subjected the Abkhazian people to brutal ethnic cleansing, cultural, and political repression. It is stupid to accuse Abkhazia of ethnic cleansing-of course these ethnically Georgian people were going to flee to Georgia, where they felt they would be safer, just like the ossetians would flee to Russia, and not Georgia. Abkhazia has a right to independence, and at one stage, even had the right to secede from the Soviet Union under the soviet constitution. These people have a right to their homeland which was unfairly taken away from them by a brutal dictator (Stalin). Tom, you can't say Kosovo has a right to independence, but Abkhazia doesn't because they forced Georgians to flee, the KLA also ethnically cleansed kosovo, and forced Serbs to flee. And Kosovo's independence is not in a 21st century civilized way, they aren't even recognised by the UN, nor is it likely that they will be for some time.
26/08/2008 09:34:22 Alert a moderator
territorial integrity
By Anonyme -
"Georgia's territorial integrity and borders must command
the same respect as every other nation's, including Russia's," -but how about serbia's territorial integrity?
Bush can't criticise Russia for recognising Abkhazia and South Ossetia when they recognise Kosovo which is against international law, and also, UN security council resolution 1244. Stop being a hypocrite, Mr. Bush
26/08/2008 06:51:53 Alert a moderator
Its all about greed and lazy people
By ROBERT (U.S.) -
How do you fight greed and lazyness. Greed equals Russia the U.S. and next China are all competing for that black gold (Oil). The lazy are the social security benifits that oil revenues pay for. The trade off for Russian passports is social security benifits for lazy people. Oil and social security are tied to gether in all countries. when the oil is gone so will the social securty benifits. Think about it, the world transition from farming sociaties to industial sociaties was caused by oil. In a farming sociaty the young took care of the old or disabled. not so in Industrial sociaties. Whats next who knows.maysbe people will slow slide back do both farming and industrial
26/08/2008 05:25:22 Alert a moderator
US URGE RUSSIA NOT TO ACCEPT REBEL'S PLEA
By Anonyme -
ALL YOU HEAR COMING FROM THE STATE IS NOTHING BUT LIES.WHILE ISRAEL SUPPLY THE ARMS,THE US TRAINED AND WERE BACKING UP GEORGIA,WHEN GEORGIA STARTED THE CONFLIT BY KILLING 10 PEACEKEEPERS,THEN THEY KILLED ABOUT1,500 CIVILIENS ON AUGUST 7TH.AGAIN THE US,UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE MOSSAD,TRIGGERED ANOTHER ILLEGAL WAR.AND SINCE THEY CONTROL THE MEDIA,THEY SAY ANYTHING THEY WANT.ENOUGH LIES FROM THE US.THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT PEOPLE,THEY THINK THAT THEY CAN CONTROL THE WOLRD.THEY NEED TO BE DISCIPLINED.NOW.BFORE THEY GO AFTER IRAN NEXT.
26/08/2008 03:13:49 Alert a moderator
Russia's Achilles Heel
By Lenka Hodkova - Philadephia, US
There is an interesting suggestion from Steve Levine. The Russians have a big weakness. The West should keep in mind Russia's Achilles Heel while dealing with Putin and Medvedev. Levine knows this area, having covered wars in Chechnya, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Tajikistan as well as the Soviet-Afghan war: http://oilandglory.com/2008/08/russias-achilles-heel.html
25/08/2008 15:35:53 Alert a moderator
Stop Russia
By Tom Bost - Toronto, Canada
Abkhazia and South Ossetia should never be recognized. The case is totally different from Kosovo. Georgian citizens where expelled from Abkhazia where 80% of population consisted of Georgians. Same happened in South Ossetia. Conflicts should be resolved in civilized way in 21 century. First of all, all refugees should be returned to both regions and then let the population vote whether they want to live with Georgia or not. Moscow is afraid to return refugees, because a simple calculation will show everyone that 80% of Georgian population will vote for united Georgia and live within one country.
25/08/2008 15:04:32 Alert a moderator
RUSSIA FINALLY UNMASKED
By Dare Ajayi - Nigeria
RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT HAS FINALLY CONFIRMED FROM THERE ACTION ON THE BREAKAWAY REGIONS THAT THE ATTACK ON GEORGIA WAS PRE PLANNED. IT WAS THE RUSSIAN SCRIPT THAT PROMPTED THE MILITIANS TO REGULARLY ATTACK THE GEOGIAN POSITIONS WHICH PROMPTED THE GEOGIAN RESPONSE. THE DUMAS CONFIRMATION HAS FINALLY DESTROYED THE INTERGRITY OF THE NEW PRESIDENT. PUTINS DAY OF JUDGEMENT IN THE HANDS OF GOD LIKE NEBUCCADNEZAR IS FAR CLOSER THAN EVER. RUSSIA MADE A BIG MISTAKE
25/08/2008 11:19:14 Alert a moderator
Needs Humility
By Abdulrahman - Saudi Arabia
History repeats itself. US and Russia again are looking for who is the Superpower. Who is the mighty, Bush or Medvedev(Putin). Whoever be the winner let us proclaim it now or lets proclaim them both, because if we will not act quickly and defensively, we are the main and ultimate losser. For the time being let us acknowledge them both for being supermighty and probably later on Almighty God will give them much better solution which is out of our knowledge. Sometimes I think it is only a marketing agenda, so that people all over the world will not forget their name, some sort of "need attention".
25/08/2008 04:29:26 Alert a moderator
May God Save our world
By Kamara Bernard - Haiti
My knowledge in the field of history is not enough but to day what i see is dramactic. Nowdays, USA and Occidental Europe are directly or inderectly envolve in all the conflicts, hostilities on this planete using some kind of arguments which are not founded. The wise people said in my country that if you kill your dog because it is wild someone else dog will bite you; it means that if Europe refuse to cope with Russia and follow the politic of USA, it will be regretful for them tomorrow. Now United nations will fail like SDN, because if USA want to attack one cuntry because of petrol they do it by killing so many people. I think it is time for Europe to not always follow USA so that we can have peace and tranquility in this world. They can never be the master of this world, only God is and will always be. USA are using the old politic of jungle by killing people because of their own properties and Europian Union can blindly follow until accept everything from those people. Europe normally is a civilized country but if you keep on supporting some savage politics others will be deceived like me today. I anyway trust Russia and is the first friend of peace and tranquility in the world but the narrow-minded don't know.
I thank you for your availability and hope you can play your role to spread some information so that European U and USA can let people free in Afgahnistan, Irak, Iran, Syria, and help poor people than arms race everywhere in teh world which cannot construct peace.
Thank you
25/08/2008 02:00:54 Alert a moderator
Stop giving the mic to Saakashvili
By John -
This confused guy cannot speak French. He blamed the West for failing to stop Russia while the west was trying to clean up his mess. This guy is the worst politicien in the earth. He should blame himself fro gambling with soldiers and civilian life. The media should not give the mic to this guy and let Sarkosy work out a peaceful solution to the crazy Saakashvili's war.
23/08/2008 15:07:18 Alert a moderator
Just who in the West has the right to question Russia?
By K.V. Tellis - Canada, Mississauga
Just who in the West has the authority to question Russia when they have not so far question the U.S.A. in its actions in Bosnia, Kosovo, Haiti, Afghanistan and Iraq? If the cannot question the U.S., then they certainly have no right to question Russia or any other country for that matter.
The eunuchs that serve the Court of the Mandarin George W. Bush must do his bidding or they will suffere the consequences of their actions. No nation on this earth has the right to question the actions of any other nation.