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August 10, 2008 Al-Jazeera -- Georgian
forces have withdrawn from Tskhinvali, the
South Ossetian capital, to positions outside
of the city.
"Georgian forces have temporarily left
Tskhinvali as part of a tactical manoeuvre....
They are in positions on the outskirts of
Tskhinvali," a spokeswoman for Temur
Yakobashvili, the Georgian reintegration
minister, said on Sunday.
Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull, reporting from the
town of Gori, said that the withdrawal began
early this morning.
"There have been eyewitness reports that
Georgian troop columns have been moving out of
Tskhinvali and moving back into Georgian
territory," he said.
Eyewitnesses said a large convoy of
military vehicles carrying soldiers and towing
heavy artillery was seen travelling south on
Sunday through the village of Ergneti, south
of Tskhinvali.
Grigory Karasin, Russia's deputy foreign
minister, said 2,000, mostly Russian citizens,
have died in South Ossetia since the fighting
began.
Karasin said: "The results have been
catastrophic. More than 2,000 people have
died, most of them Ossetians, the majority
Russian citizens."
He said if Georgia completely withdrew from
South Ossetia then Moscow would be ready to
negotiate with Tbilisi.
Meanwhile, the White House warned on Sunday
that the war could have a "significant,
long-term impact" on relations between
Washington and Moscow.
James Jeffrey, deputy national security
advisor, said Russia's reaction to the
withdrawal of Georgian forces from South
Ossetia would be key to future developments.
'Russian control'
Speaking at a news conference on Sunday,
Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the
general staff of the Russian armed forces,
said Russian peacekeeping forces were now in
control of most of the capital.
He said Georgia had not approached Russia
regarding a request for a ceasefire.
The city has been ravaged by fierce battles
since Friday, when Georgian troops launched an
offensive to regain control over South Ossetia.
Russia responded by sending in tanks and
troops and bombing Georgian territory.
The fighting is said to have left hundreds
dead.
Georgia's interior ministry said that
Russia has brought 6,000 troops into its
territory and another 4,000 Russian troops are
arriving by sea, allegedly preparing for an
invasion on Sunday.
Earlier, Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian
president, said his country is officially at
war with Russia.
On Sunday, Georgia denied Russian media
report that it had agreed with Russia to
create "humanitarian corridors" to evacuate
refugees from South Ossetia.
Shota Utiashvili, an interior ministry
spokesman, said: "It's not true."
Earlier, the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe had said it was working
on creating conditions for the evacuation of
refugees from the region after Georgia said it
was withdrawing its forces from South Ossetia.
Russian air raid
Georgia has said that Russian planes bombed
an airport attached to an aircraft
manufacturing plant located 15km from Tbilisi,
its capital.
A Georgian interior ministry spokesman said
the attack inflicted some damage to its
runways but caused no casualties.
While there has been no offical Russian
response to the alleged bombing of the
airport, Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher said
injuries had occurred.
"Five people have been injured in what
appears to be a Russian air raid," he said
reporting from the scene.
"When you speak to people here, they have
no idea why this place would be targeted,
while there are military parts housed here, it
is not a military base ... some say that
perhaps there may have been confusion on the
Russian side."
Inside Georgian territory, Russian jets
carried out up to five raids targeting
military installations around the town of Gori,
about 30km outside South Ossetia, on Saturday.
Nogovitsyn said Georgia had shot down a
Russian fighter jet and were holding the
pilot.
'Naval blockade'
Russian warships have set up a sea blockade
of Georgia, Russia's Interfax news agency said
on Sunday quoting a source in the Russian
naval command.
"Our navy sailors have been assigned the
task of preventing arms and other military
supplies from reaching Georgia by sea," the
source said.
Separately, RIA Novosti, another Russian
news agency quoted a senior navy source as
denying that a blockade was in effect.
"These reports do not correspond with
reality. A coastal blockade would mean war
with Georgia. We are not in a state of war
with Georgia," the RIA Novosti source said.
Interfax also said that the Ukrainian
foreign ministry had said that it reserved the
right to bar Russian warships dispatched to
the Georgian coast from returning to their
Ukrainian base of Sevastopol.
"Ukraine... reserves the right to bar
warships and vessels which could take part in
the action (conflict with Georgia) from
returning to Ukrainian territory until the
conflict is solved," it said, quoting a
Ukrainian foreign ministry statement.
Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based in the
Ukrainian port.
Nogovitsyn said he could not comment on the
Ukrainian statement.
South Ossetia deaths
A spokeswoman for South Ossetia's
separatist government said on Sunday that at
least 20 people were killed and 150 wounded by
Georgian shelling overnight in Tskhinvali, the
regional capital.
Irina Gagloyeva said Georgian forces "fired
on Tskhinvali methodically all night. But for
now, a relative calm has settled in the city".
"The city is almost fully destroyed.
Civilians left in the city are hiding in bomb
shelters and basements," she said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security
Council met for a third time on Saturday to
discuss the situation.
Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the
UN, said a ceasefire "would not be a
solution".
"The fighting is still going on. The
Georgian forces are continuing to be on the
South Ossetian territory," he said.
"The Georgian forces must pull out of South
Ossetia.
"And then they must accept the need to sign an
agreement on non-use of force with South
Ossetians."
Fighting in Abkhazia
There was also fighting in Abkhazia,
another breakaway region in western Georgia,
where separatist forces say they had launched
air and artillery strikes against Georgian
troops.
Sergei Shamba, the de facto government's
foreign minister, said Abkhazian forces
intended to push Georgian troops out of the
Kodori Gorge.
The northern part of the gorge is the only
area of Abkhazia that has remained under
Georgian government control. The region broke
away from Tbilisi in the early 1990s along
with South Ossetia.
Georgia's interior ministry on Sunday said
that Russian aircraft had bombed a town in the
region.
"Russian planes have not stopped bombing
the Kodori Gorge since yesterday, and now they
are also bombing Zugdidi," a Georgian town
close to Abkhazia, an interior ministry
spokesman said.
On Saturday, Georgian President Mikheil
Saakashvili said Georgia had repelled several
attacks in the area by Abkhaz separatists.
The head of Georgia's national security
council said Sunday that Russian naval vessels
had arrived in the Abkhaz port of Ochamchira.
Russia has yet to the comment on the claims
that it attacked the Kodori Gorge or sent
naval vessels to Abkhazia. |
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