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The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. (September 2008) Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. |
| 2008 South Ossetia war | |||||||||
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| Part of Georgian–Ossetian conflict and Georgian–Abkhazian conflict |
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 Location of Georgia (including Abkhazia and South Ossetia) and the Russian part of North Caucasus |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Russian Federation South Ossetia Abkhazia |
 Georgia |
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| Commanders | |||||||||
| Dmitry Medvedev Anatoly Khrulyov Vladimir Shamanov Marat Kulakhmetov Vyacheslav Borisov Sulim Yamadayev Eduard Kokoity Vasiliy Lunev3 Sergei Bagapsh Anatoliy Zaitsev4 |
Mikheil Saakashvili Davit Kezerashvili Vano Merabishvili Zaza Gogava Mamuka Kurashvili Mamuka Balakhadze |
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| Strength | |||||||||
| Est. at least 15,000 regulars in Georgia (as of 13/07/08),5 not including support and rear troops (in Russia and on the sea) 3,000 regulars and 15,000 reservists;6 unknown number of volunteers 5,000 not including reservists;7 unknown number of volunteers
At least 23,000 total |
Estimate: 12,000 troops including 75 tanks and armoured personnel carriers8 Total military personnel is 37,000 as of 20079 Reserves number up to 250,000.10 Unknown number of Georgian Police deployed in the conflict zone |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Confirmed by South Ossetia: Unknown Confirmed by Russia: 71 killed, 341 wounded and 6 captured111213 3 Su-25s, 1 Tu-22M lost14Confirmed by Abkhazia: 1 killed, 2 wounded15 |
Confirmed by Georgia: 144 soldiers killed, 25 missing, 42 captured and 1,964 wounded;161718 14 policemen killed and 22 missing191820 |
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| Civilian casualties: Georgia: Officials claimed at least 188 Georgian civilians killed21 and 912 missing20; One foreign civilian killed and 3 wounded18 South Ossetia: Russia and South Ossetian officials initially claimed 1,492 South Ossetian civilians killed. These numbers were disputed by Human Rights Watch and Memorial (according to an early estimate by HRW, less than 100 were killed in South Ossetia)2223. The Russian Procurator's office says it's investigating 365 deaths. 242526 Human Rights Watch believes the figure of 300-400 civilians is a "useful starting point".27 South Ossetia: Displaced from South Ossetia to Russia: Russian estimate, 30,000; HRW estimate, 24,000.3233 |
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The 2008 South Ossetia War was a land, air and sea war fought between Georgia on one side, with Russia, and the break-away regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other.
A civil war fought after the breakup of the Soviet Union left parts of South Ossetia in control of a separatist government backed by Russia. Other parts remained in control of Georgia. Hostilities escalated during June and July 2008. On the evening of 7 August 2008 Georgia launched a ground and air based military attack on South Ossetia's capital Tskhinvali. Russia responded by sending troops into South Ossetia and launching bombing raids further into Georgia.34353637 The events during 7 August remain a matter of debates and controversy.3839 On 8 August Russian naval forces blocked Georgia's coast and landed ground forces and paratroopers on Georgian coast. Russian and Abkhazian forces opened a second front by attacking the Kodori Gorge, held by Georgia,40 and invaded western parts of Georgia's interior. After five days of heavy fighting, Georgian forces were ejected from South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russian troops invaded Georgia proper, occupying the cities of Poti and Gori among others.41
Following mediation by EU chairman, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, a preliminary ceasefire agreement was reached on 12 August, and was signed by Georgia and Russia on 15 August in Tbilisi and 16 August in Moscow. On 12 August, president Medvedev had already ordered a halt to Russian military operations in Georgia42 but fighting did not stop immediately.43 Georgian naval and coast guard units were scuttled by Russian forces at Poti naval pier on 13 August.44
After the ceasefire was signed Russia pulled most of its troops out from the Georgia proper. However, Russia established "buffer zones" around Abkhazia and South Ossetia and check points in Georgia's interior (Poti, Senaki). International monitoring was deployed in Georgia on 1 October. Following international agreements, Russia completed its withdrawal on 8 October 2008.45 Russian troops remain in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, including areas under Georgian control before the war.46 Since then, armed incidents irregularly continue in both the border conflict zones.
Naming
Various names have been applied to the 2008 South Ossetia war. Some of the names being in use:
- August War47
- Five-Day War48
- Georgia-Russia conflict49
- Russian-Georgian War50, Russia-Georgia War51 or Russo-Georgian War52
Background
- See also: Georgian-Ossetian conflict, South Ossetian independence referendum, 2006, and 2008 Georgia-Russia crisis
The Ossetians are an Iranic speaking people whose ethnogenesis lies along the Don River. They have had a presence in the Caucasus since the 8th century A.D.citation needed but their numbers increased after being driven out of their original homeland during the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. Most clans escaping from the Mongol invasions settled in the territories today known as North Ossetia-Alania (currently part of Russia) and South Ossetia (currently part of Georgia).535455 Ossetians and Georgians have had a long and complex history with periods of peaceful coexistence interspersed with violence from both sides.
Hostilities broke out in 1918–1920 between Georgians and Ossetians after the First World War along with various Caucasian conflicts. Several Ossetian villages were burned down, between 3000-7000 people were killed and up to 20,000 Ossetians were forced to take refuge in Russia.56 The South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast was created in 1922 after the establishment of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
In 1990, as the USSR was nearing its collapse the longtime anti-Soviet dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia was emerging as Georgia's first independent leader. In basing his campaign for the presidency on a nationalist platform,57 dubbed Georgia for Georgians,58596061 he projected ethnic Georgians, who at the time constituted 70% of the population, as the country's true patriots, to the debasement of South Ossetians as newcomers.
In late 1994, Georgia's Supreme Council ruled that the South-Ossetian autonomous region (oblast) be disbanded. The government in Tbilisi established Georgian as the country's principal language, whereas the Ossetians' first two languages were Russian and Ossetian.57
Amidst rising ethnic tensions, a quasi-military conflict broke out in January 1991 when Georgian forces entered Tskhinvali; more than 2,000 people are believed to have been killed.5762 The war resulted in South Ossetia, which has a Georgian ethnic minority of around one fifth of the total population (70,000),63 breaking away from Georgia and gaining de facto independence. After a cease-fire in 1992, Tskhinvali was isolated from the Georgian territory around it, and accounts of atrocities against Ossetians — rapes and grisly killings — circulated endlessly.57 Russian, Georgian and South Ossetian peacekeepers were stationed in South Ossetia under the JCC's mandate of demilitarization.6465 The 1992 ceasefire also defined both a zone of conflict around the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali and a security corridor along the border of South Ossetian territories.
The conflict remained frozen until 2003 when Mikheil Saakashvili came to power on the wave of the Rose Revolution which ousted president Eduard Shevardnadze. In the years that followed, Saakashvili's government pushed a program to strengthen failing state institutions, including security and military. By 2007, Georgian military spending increased to levels that are above every country in the world.6667 Restoring South Ossetia and Abkhazia (a region with a similar movement) to Georgian control has been a goal of Saakashvili since he came to power.68
In the 2006 South Ossetian independence referendum, full independence was supported by 99% of voters, although ethnic Georgians living in the region did not participate. Georgia accused Russia of the annexation of its internationally recognised territory and installing a puppet government led by Eduard Kokoity and several officials who previously served in the Russian FSB and Army.69707172
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated that he would "protect the life and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are".73 The BBC and other sources74 confirm that Russia has issued "most citizens" with passports, "potentially justifying direct intervention".7576 Reuters describes the government as "dependent on Russia, [supplier of] two thirds of [its] annual budget", and reports that "Russia's state-controlled gas giant Gazprom is building new gas pipelines and infrastructure" worth hundreds of millions of dollars to supply its cities with energy.77
Prelude to war
- See also: Timeline of the 2008 South Ossetia war
- August 1 — At 8:05 am two roadside bombs hit a Georgian police vehicle on a detour road connecting Georgian-populated villages near the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali.78 The five occupants were wounded79 (six according to the secondary sources 8081). Late in the evening, intense fighting began between Georgian troops and the forces of South Ossetia. Georgia claimed that South Ossetian separatists82 had shelled Georgian villages in violation of a ceasefire. South Ossetia denied provoking the conflict. A South Ossetian militiaman was killed by sniper located in a Georgian police post.83 The Russian peacekeeping command reported that snipers killed at least three people in Tskhinvali around 9pm. The command also reported that Tskhinvali came under mortar fire from the Georgian villages of Ergneti and Zemo Nikozi.84
- August 2 — The South Ossetian side said that shelling and shooting resumed overnight. Mamuka Kurashvili, a Georgian Defense Ministry official in charge of overseeing peacekeeping operations, said that the Georgian side had opened fire in response to shelling of Georgian villages. Six civilians and one Georgian policeman were injured as a result of shelling of the Georgian villages of Zemo Nikozi, Kvemo Nikozi, Nuli and Ergneti, the Georgian Interior Ministry said.84 The South Ossetian side said that another two people, including a Russian soldier from the Russian North Ossetian peacekeeping battalion, were killed in fighting on August 2, bringing the toll to six people killed and about 15 injured as a result of intense shooting by the Georgian side directed towards Tskhinvali and nearby Ossetian villages late on August 1 and overnight on August 2.8586
The Russian military exercise Caucasus Frontier 2008, held almost concurrently with the joint US-Georgian Immediate Response 2008 exercise, ends after roughly one month of operations.8788
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- August 5 — Russian ambassador-at-large Yuri Popov warned that Russia would intervene in the event of military conflict.8990 Dmitry Medoyev declared from Moscow that volunteers were already arriving, primarily "from North Ossetia", in the Republic of South Ossetia to offer help in the event of Georgian aggression.9192
- August 6 — South Ossetia and Georgia didn't agree on the format of talks. South Ossetian side had proposed holding a JCC session with the participation of Georgian, South Ossetian, Russian and Russia’s North Ossetian negotiators in Tskhinvali on 9 August. Tbilisi has consistently refused to participate in the quadripartite JCC talks.93
According to the eyewitness account of a Nezavisimaya gazeta correspondent sporadic heavy shelling of Tskhinvali by Georgian military started on August 6. The weapons used by Georgians, the eyewitness claims, were mortars, artillery and sniper rifles. South Ossetian military officials speculated that the Georgian army was preparing for a full-scale attack on the city. Russian correspondents report that the city was under artillery and mortar fire that continued all night long. Russian troops at North Ossetia drew up closer to Georgian border.94verification needed
Timeline of the war
Events of August 7
In a timeline of war published in the Washington Post on 17 August, the following information was released: "Around 2 p.m. that day [7 August], Ossetian artillery fire resumed, targeting Georgian positions in the village of Avnevi in South Ossetia. The barrage continued for several hours. Two Georgian peacekeepers were killed, the first deaths among Georgians in South Ossetia since the 1990s, according to Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze, who spoke in a telephone briefing on 14 August."95 At 3 pm, OSCE monitors on patrol saw large numbers of Georgian artillery and grad rocket launchers massing on roads north of Gori, just south of the South Ossetia.9697 At about 7 pm, President Mikheil Saakashvili ordered a ceasefire after Georgian troops had occupied several important heights around Tshkinvali.9897 According to the Georgian military, fighting intensified despite the declared ceasefire.99100 South Ossetia denies any such night bombardment of Georgian forces or villages. An OSCE monitoring group in Tskhinvali also did not record outgoing artillery fire from the South Ossetian side before the start of Georgian bombardment,10197 and NATO officials attest to minor skirmishes but nothing that amounted to a provocation, according to Der Spiegel.102 During a news broadcast that began at 11 pm, Mikheil Saakashvili announced that Georgian villages were being shelled, and vowed to restore Tbilisi's control by force over what he called the "criminal regime" in South Ossetia to "reinforce order".97100 At 11:30 p.m. on 7 August Georgian forces began an artillery assault on Tskhinvali.103 At 11:45 OSCE monitors report shells falling on Tskhinvali every 15–20 seconds.103 The Georgians used 27 rocket launchers, including 152-millimeter guns. Three brigades began the nighttime assault.
The events during 7 August remain a matter of debates and controversy.102 According to Georgian intelligence39 and several Russian sources, parts of 58th Russian Army moved to the Georgian territory through the Roki Tunnel before the Georgian attack on Tskhinvali.104105106107108109 The NATO experts did not question the Georgian claim that the Russians had provoked them by sending their troops through the Roki Tunnel. But their evaluation of the facts was dominated by skepticism that these were the true reasons for Saakashvili's actions.102 However, according to an article published in the New York Times on 6 November, no conclusive evidence has been presented that Russia was invading the country before the Georgian attack.97
Battle of Tskhinvali
Early in the morning, Georgia launched a military offensive to surround and capture Tskhinvali.110 According to a Russian military official, over 10 Russian Peacekeeping force servicemen stationed in Tskhinvali were killed during the attack.111 The heavy shelling, which included Georgian rockets being fired into South Ossetia112 left parts of the capital city in ruins, which Russian government sources claimed amounted to genocide. At 12:15 am, General Marat M. Kulakhmetov, commander of Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia, reported to the OSCE monitors that his troops had come under fire and that they had casualties.97 The news of the shelling was extensively covered by Russian media prior to the military reaction that followed, as Russia claimed to have responded in defense of South Ossetians against what they called "a genocide by Georgian forces."113 Russia claimed civilian casualties may amount up to 2,000 dead in Tskhinvali following the Georgian shelling.114 The extent of civilian casualties was later disputed in a number of sources, with Human Rights Watch report speaking of only 44 dead in Tskhinvali's city hospital, leveled with the BM-21 "Grad" multiple missile systems during the shelling of the city. The Tskhinvali hospital, HRW reports, was under constant shelling for 18 hours. 115 116 Later president Saakashvili countered with allegations that the Russians had deployed tanks into the disputed region before he gave the order for Georgian forces to attack,117. At Russia’s request, the United Nations Security Council held consultations on 7 August at 11pm (US EST time), followed by an open meeting at 1.15am (US EST time) on 8 August, with Georgia attending. During consultations, Council members discussed a press statement that called for an end to hostilities. They were unable, however, to come to a consensus.118
South Ossetian militias and Russian soldiers offered resistance to the advancing Georgian troops.119 In the morning, Georgia announced that it had surrounded Tskhinvali and captured eight South Ossetian villages.120 An independent Georgian television station announced that Georgian military took control of the city.121 At 17:35, in a televised address, Mikheil Saakashvili announces that "Georgia controls Tskhinvali and most South Ossetian villages and regions.".122 However, at 21:22 the South Ossetian government said it is fully in control of Tskhinvali, but that Georgia is making attempts "to retake the city."123 According to a report in Der Spiegel, the attacking Georgian troops became bogged down and failed to advance further than Tskhinvali.124 According to an article in the Washington Post, 1,500 Georgian ground troops had entered the centre of Tskhinvali by 10 am on August 8, but were pushed back three hours later by Russian artillery and air attacks.125
According to Georgia, Russian military aircraft violated Georgian airspace around 10 am on 8 August.126 Starting around 2 am, international press agencies began running reports of Russian tanks in the Roki tunnel.127 According to a senior Russian official, the first Russian combat unit, the First Battalion of the 135th Regiment, was ordered at around dawn of August 8 to move through the Roki Tunnel and reinforce the Russian forces in Tshkinvali. According to him, the unit passed through the tunnel at 2:30 pm. It reached Tshkinvali at the evening, meeting heavy resistance from Georgian troops. Georgia disputes the account, saying that it was in heavy combat with Russian forces near the tunnel long before dawn of 8 August. 128
During the evening of August 8, vicious fighting was going on in the area of Tskhinvali and in South Ossetia.129 The fighting in South Ossetian towns and villages was done by the local militia and volunteers, while Russian troops concentrated on engaging larger Georgian army groups.130 Russia also undertook action to suppress the Georgian artillery and the Russian Air Force launched strikes on Georgia's logistical infrastructure.131 According to some reports, Russian special units prevented Georgian saboteurs from blowing up the Roki Tunnel, which could have hindered the sending of reinforcements to South Ossetia.132
On the early afternoon of August 9 the Russian military said, Georgian forces had been driven out of Tskhinvali and that the city had been "fully liberated."133
After being driven out or pulled back from Tskhinvali, the Georgian units regrouped with armoured reinforcements from Gori. On the later half of August 9, the regrouped Georgian forces reportedly launched a new offensive against Russian and South Ossetian defenders of Tskhinvali, using heavy tube and rocket artillery, while heavy fighting was reportedly underway on the city outskirts with Georgian forces, breaking through the defense and the rebel sources reporting three enemy tanks destroyed.134 Just before midnight a five-hour artillery onslaught on the city ended, but the fighting with the Georgian infantry in the south of Tskhinvali continued. Human Rights Watch found some evidence of firing being directed into basements, locations which civilians frequently choose as a place of shelter. The South Ossetian forces supposedly complained, that Georgia had not yet provided a peace corridor to evacuate the civilians, who were caught up in crossfire. 135
By August 10, the joint Russian and South Ossetian forces regained control over the city as the Georgian military withdrew.136 However, according to the Russians, some Georgian snipers and mobile infantry groups still remained in Tskhinvali.137 In total, the fighting in the Tskhinval area lasted for three days and nights, by the end of which Georgian artillery was either destroyed or had left its positions, from which it could shell the city and Georgian ground troops pulled out of the city.138
Bombing and occupation of Gori
- See also: Occupation of Gori
Gori is a Georgian city close to the border with the breakaway province of South Ossetia. It was the staging area for the Georgian army during the fighting for the capital of South Ossetia and was bombed several times by the Russian Air Force.139 According to the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Russia had no choice but to target the military infrastructure being used to sustain the Georgian offensive.140
At 06:27 UTC on August 9, Reuters reported that two Russian fighters had bombed Georgian artillery encampments near Gori.141 The Georgian government reported that 60 civilians were killed when at least one bomb hit an apartment in Gori.142 According to the Russian military, three bombs hit an armament depot and the façade of one of the adjacent 5-storey apartment buildings suffered as a result exploding ammunition from the depot.143
On the evening of August 10, large numbers of the civilian population began to flee the city.144 By the next day 56,000 people fled the district. That same day the Georgian army abandoned the city following their defeat at Tskhinvali.
On August 12, a Dutch television journalist Stan Storimans was killed and several other foreigners injured when Russian warplanes bombed the central district of the city.145 Also, an air-to-ground missile hit the Gori hospital.146 Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international rights group, accused Russia of deploying controversial and indiscriminately deadly cluster bombs on civilian areas of Georgia. HRW said that Russian aircraft had dropped RBK-250 cluster bombs, each containing 30 PTAB 2.5M submunitions or "bomblets" in the centre of Gori on August 12, killing at least eight civilians and injuring dozens.147
The Russian forces denied access to some humanitarian aid missions seeking to assist civilians. The United Nations, which has described the humanitarian situation in Gori as "desperate," was able to deliver only limited food supplies to the city.148 On August 15, Russian troops allowed a number of humanitarian supplies into the city but continued their blockade of the strategically located city.149150 Russia's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, denied that Russian troops were occupying Gori, saying that Russian soldiers "are not in Gori, have never been in Gori and do not occupy Gori," and rejecting news reports that the town was in ruins.151
In the August 17 report, HRW said the organization's researchers interviewed ethnic Georgians from the city of Gori and surrounding villages who described how armed South Ossetian militias attacked their cars and kidnapped civilians as people tried to flee in response to militia attacks on their homes following the Russian advance into the area. In phone interviews, people remaining in Gori region villages told HRW that they had witnessed looting and arson attacks by South Ossetian militias in their villages, but were afraid to leave after learning about militia attacks on those who fled.148 The Russian human rights group Memorial called these attacks "pogroms".152
The occupation lasted until August 22.
Abkhazian front
- See also: Battle of the Kodori Valley
According Russian Ministry of Defence an action in the Black Sea off Abkhazia on August 9 resulted in a Georgian naval unit being sunk by the Russian Navy. The Russians claimed that Georgian ships had violated the security zone of the Black Sea Fleet and therefore the action was in accordance with international law. Following the action, the remaining Georgian ships withdrew to a nearby harbor.153
On August 10, Abkhazia declared a full military mobilization to drive out the 1,000 Georgian troops from their remaining stronghold in the Kodori Valley.154
On August 11, Russian paratroopers deployed in Abkhazia carried out raids deep inside Georgian territory to destroy military bases from where Georgia could send reinforcements to its troops sealed off in South Ossetia. Russian forces reached the military base near the town of Senaki outside Abkhazia on the 11th, leaving the base there destroyed.155 Russian troops also drove through the port of Poti, and took up positions around it.156
On August 12, the Abkhazian authorities announced the beginning of military operations against Georgian troops in the Kodori Gorge area.157158 On the same day, Georgia said it was withdrawing its troops from the Kodori Gorge "as a gesture of goodwill".159
On August 13, all of the remaining Georgian forces, including at least 1,500 civilians in the Kodori Valley, had retreated from Abkhazia and South Ossetia.160161
Russian tanks were seen at Gori. Russian troops were seen on the road from Gori to Tbilisi, but turned off to the north, about an hour from Tbilisi, and encamped. Georgian troops occupied the road six miles (about 10 km) closer to Tbilisi.162163
Occupation of Poti
On August 14, Russian troops entered Poti and sunk several Georgian naval vessels moored in the harbor, as well as removing or destroying military equipment.44164 They also controlled the highway linking Poti to Tbilisi.165 Four days later, Russian forces in Poti took prisoner 22 Georgian troops who had approached the city. They were taken to a Georgian military base occupied by Russian troops at Senaki.166
Six-point peace plan
On August 10, most international observers began calling for a peaceful solution to the conflict.167 The European Union and the United States expressed a willingness to send a joint delegation to try and negotiate a ceasefire.168
On August 11, Russia ruled out peace talks with Georgia until the latter withdrew from South Ossetia and signed a legally binding pact renouncing the use of force against South Ossetia and Abkhazia.169
On August 12, Russian President Medvedev said that he had ordered an end to military operations in Georgia.170 Later on the same day, he met the President-in-Office of the European Union, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and approved a six-point peace plan. Late that night Georgian President Saakashvili agreed to the text.171 Sarkozy's plan originally had just the first four points. Russia added the fifth and sixth points. Georgia asked for the additions in parentheses, but Russia rejected them, and Sarkozy convinced Georgia to agree to the unchanged text.172 On 14 August, South Ossetia President Eduard Kokoity and Abkhazia President Sergei Bagapsh signed the peace plan as well.173(Who did not have any official connections with document and were not participating in negotiation.)
- No recourse to the use of force.
- Definitive cessation of hostilities.
- Free access to humanitarian aid (addition rejected: and to allow the return of refugees).
- The Armed Forces of Georgia must withdraw to their permanent positions.
- The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation must withdraw to the line where they were stationed prior to the beginning of hostilities. Prior to the establishment of international mechanisms the Russian peacekeeping forces will take additional security measures. (addition rejected: six months)
- An international debate on the future status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and ways to ensure their lasting security will take place. (addition rejected: based on the decisions of the UN and the OSCE).174172175
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe has 200 personnel in the area, of which nine are military observers. OSCE is preparing to send 100 more observers to monitor the ceasefire, of which 20 are to be deployed immediately.176177 On 18 August, Russia also initially opposed the deployment of 100 new observers into the region,178 but later accepted them.179
After the cease fire had been signed, hostilities did not immediately stop. A reporter for the UK The Guardian was quoted on the 13th of August saying "the idea there is a ceasefire is ridiculous" while Russian troops and irregulars advanced.43
On August 14, efforts to institute joint patrols of Georgian and Russian police in Gori broke down due to apparent discord among personnel.180181182
On August 15, Reuters stated that Russian forces had pushed to 34 miles (55 km) from Tbilisi, the closest during the war; they stopped in Igoeti , an important crossroads. According to the report, 17 APCs and 200 soldiers, including snipers, participated in the advance; the convoy included a military ambulance, and initially three helicopters provided covering fire.183 That day, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also traveled to Tbilisi, where Saakashvili signed the 6-point peace plan in her presence.184185
On August 19, Russian and Georgian forces exchanged prisoners of war. Georgia said it handed over 5 Russian servicemen, in exchange for 15 Georgians, including two civilians.186
Russian withdrawal
Despite numerous calls for a quick withdrawal from Georgia by western leaders187, Russian troops occupied some parts of Georgia proper for about two months. In late August, some troops were withdrawn, however Russian troops and checkpoints remained near Gori and Poti, as well as in so called "buffer zones" around Abkhazia and South Ossetia.188 Withdrawal from the buffer zones around South Ossetia and Abkhazia ended when control was handed over to EU observer mission on 9 October.189 On 9th September, 2008, Russia officially announced that its troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia would thenceforth be considered foreign troops stationed in "independent states" under bilateral agreements. Russian Troops remain in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.190191192193
Post-conflict incidents
Following the end of the war there were still several clashes in the coming months. During September and October, 29 people were killed in continuing cross-border fighting. The dead included: seven Russian soldiers, seven South Ossetian civilians, eight Georgian policemen, four Abkhaz civilians, two Georgian civilians and one Abkhaz border guard.194195196197198199200201202 The worst incident was on 3 October, when a car-bomb exploded in Tskhinvali, near the Russian peacekeeping headquarters, killing 13 people and wounding another eight.203 The Russians and South Ossetians accused the Georgian Security Ministry of being behind the attack, the Georgians denied it and further accused the Russians of orchestrating the attack so they would have enough of a reason to maintain their military presence in Georgia. Among the dead was also the Russian chief of staff of peacekeeping operations.204205 Also, one of the Georgian civilians that were killed was the mayor of the Georgian town of Muzhava, Gia Mebonia.
In addition on August 29, two soldiers serving with the Russian North Ossetian peacekeeping battalion were arrested by Georgian police in the border zone for "illegaly detention" of 4 journalists and three other people, including a 13-year-old boy. They were sentenced to pre-trial custody for two months by a court in Mtskheta, a town close to Tbilisi, on August 30, creating a diplomatic row between Tbilisi and Moscow.206
Infrastructure damage
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (August 2008) |
Georgia claimed Russia had bombed airfields and civil and economic infrastructure, including the Black Sea port of Poti. Between eight and eleven Russian jets reportedly hit container tanks and a shipbuilding plant at the port.208209
UN UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT) provided imagery that witnesses a total of 6 Georgian naval vessels either 'partially or completely submerged' in Poti. 'No other damage to physical infrastructure or vessel-related oil spills' were detected.210
Reuters reported that Georgian interior ministry officials claimed an attack on the civilian Tbilisi International Airport, though Russia rejected attack had place.211212 Later, Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Iakobashvili denounced the attack had place, stating, "There was no attack on the airport in Tbilisi. It was a factory that produces combat airplanes (Tbliaviamsheni, Tbilisi military avionics plant)."213
According to Russian sources on 15 August and 17, about 20% of the Tskhinvali's buildings have suffered various damage, including 10% of "beyond repair".214 On 12 August local authorities had claimed that approximately 70% of Tskhinvali's buildings, both municipal and private, have suffered serious damage. 214
United Nations' UNOSAT files state 1030 buildings were affected in the area around Tskhinvali, with 783 of them destroyed and 243 severely damaged, as of august 19th. A clear majority of damaged buildings are situated in the villages north of Tskhinvali (between Tamarasheni and Kekhvi). "Observed heavy concentration of damages", agency states, is located "within clearly defined residential areas". The report does not specify whether the buildings were damaged by fighting or destroyed afterwards, but Human Rights Watch claimed that they "confirm the widespread torching of ethnic Georgian villages inside South Ossetia".214215
Retreating Georgian forces have reportedly mined civilian infrastructure in South Ossetia, including some private house basements civilians used to hide during the Georgian offensive.216
26 August through 29 August — The United Nations' UNOSAT program published a series of satellite images which showed the extent of the Georgian bombardment of the civilian targets with a disclaimer that this is an initial damage assessment and has not yet been independently validated on the ground.217 Later, Human Rights Watch (HRW) used the images to support the claim that widespread torching of ethnic Georgian villages had occurred inside South Ossetia.215
Humanitarian impact
According to an 18 August report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), at the start of the military conflict on 7 August 2008, Georgian military used indiscriminate and disproportionate force resulting in civilian deaths in South Ossetia. The Russian military has since used indiscriminate force in attacks in South Ossetia and in the Gori district, and has apparently targeted convoys of civilians attempting to flee the conflict zones. HRW said that ongoing looting, arson attacks, and abductions by Russian soldiers and South Ossetian militia are terrorizing the Georgian civilian population, forcing them to flee their homes and preventing displaced people from returning home.218
The organisation called the conflict a disaster for civilians, and said an international security mission should be deployed to help protect civilians and create a safe environment for the displaced to return home. HRW also called for international organisations to send fact-finding missions to establish the facts, report on human rights, and urge the authorities to account for any crimes.218 Alexander Brod of the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, stated that groups such as Human Rights Watch are "in no position to make an objective assessment of war casualties." and said most western NGOs "report events from a Georgian perspective".219
South Ossetians
On 8 August the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urged the combatants to form a humanitarian corridor to evacuate the wounded and besieged civilians from within Tskhinvali.220