Thread: Euro Org Knew Of Georgia Attack But Kept Mum

August 21, 2008, 14:54

OSCE observers knew about Georgia's attack - Moscow

Russian troops are leaving Georgia and will arrive in the peacekeepers’ zone of responsibility by tomorrow evening. The statement came during a regular briefing from Defence Ministry in Moscow.

According to the Ministry, the situation in the Georgian conflict zone remains tense. The Defence Ministry claims that OSCE observers knew of the date of Georgia's attack, but did not report it to Russian peacekeepers.

The spokesman added that after violating the peacekeeping agreement, Georgian forces will no longer be allowed in the conflict zone.

“Russia believes that from now on only Russian armed forces have the right to perform the peacekeeping duties in the conflict zone. They have consistently and accurately complied with the 1992 bilateral agreement. By violating its mandate, Georgia no longer has the right to participate in the peacekeeping mission,â€

Russia: Miliband backs Georgia and widens Nato split· Tbilisi promise contradicts alliance secretary-general

· Russia shows no sign of retreat despite assurance

Julian Borger in Tbilisi and Ian Traynor in Brussels
The Guardian,
Thursday August 21 2008



Georgians from the South Ossetia conflict zone watch television in a refugee camp outside Tbilisi. Photograph: Sean Smith

The foreign secretary, David Miliband, said yesterday that Nato had this week launched Georgia on the path to membership, delighting Georgians but raising eyebrows in Brussels and contradicting the western alliance's secretary-general.

Miliband's remarks, in a Guardian interview, highlighted divisions in the transatlantic alliance over how far to expand Nato's eastward reach in the face of resistance from a resurgent Russia.

Link to this audio

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audio/2 ... aylor.nato

Richard Norton-Taylor discusses whether Nato has lost its way The foreign secretary was speaking in Tbilisi, where he delivered a strong message of support for Georgia in its standoff with Russian troops on its soil.

Russia's president, Dmitry Medvedev, has said that his troops will complete a pullback by tomorrow, but there were few signs of movement and a senior military official announced plans to build 18 permanent checkpoints in a "security zone" around South Ossetia, five miles inside Georgian territory.

In a response to Russian occupation of Georgia, Nato foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Tuesday agreed to form a Nato-Georgia commission to entrench western support for the Black Sea state.

US and European diplomats in Brussels said it was too early to say what impact the new structure would have on Georgia's Nato ambitions and Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the alliance's secretary general, said that the meeting had not even discussed Georgian membership.

Miliband, however, argued that Tuesday's decision meant that "the formal process" leading to Georgian membership of Nato had "kicked off", and that the commission represented a "route map" for gaining membership.

Diplomats and officials at Nato headquarters in Brussels were wary of endorsing that view. "It's an important signal, but there is also important substance to it," Miliband said. "In practical terms, Nato is offering close cooperation with the Georgian government and the Georgian military."

The assistance would involve training and equipping the Georgian army, with the aim of making it compatible with Nato forces and able to fight alongside them.

In Brussels, however, diplomats said any decision to admit Georgia was essentially political, and that deep reservations remained among some member states.

A Nato summit in April agreed in principle to accept Georgia at an unspecified date, but Germany and France resisted US pressure to give Georgia a Membership Action Plan (Map), which is the formal prerequisite for negotiations to join the organisation. Nato foreign ministers are to "assess" the situation in December.

Miliband suggested in Tbilisi that as far as Georgia was concerned, the process had already been kickstarted by the South Ossetia conflict and the Nato response.

"I think the formal process kicked off with the establishment of a Nato-Georgia commission," he said. "Its right to see Georgian and Ukrainian membership as part of a process to build up these countries as a permanent fixture."

One diplomat in Brussels queried that, saying it was too early to say what impact the new commission would have. Another European diplomat said the new commission "can only be positive for Map. But it doesn't wipe out the questions from before, or the concerns of some allies. None of that has gone away."

Following Tuesday's meeting, De Hoop Scheffer said: "There was no specific discussion on Map." The new commission "has no direct relationship with Map".

Russia objects to Nato's eastward expansion, viewing it as an attempt at encirclement by a hostile military pact. It was also angered yesterday by the signing of a US-Polish deal to deploy American anti-ballistic missiles on Polish soil. Washington insists that the interceptors are designed to stop missiles fired from Iran. Moscow claims they are intended to blunt its nuclear deterrent. Moscow has warned Poland that the missiles could make it vulnerable to a Russian nuclear strike and last night said its retaliation to yesterday's agreement in Warsaw would not be restricted to diplomatic measures.

State Secretary Espen Barth Eide at Norway's defence ministry said yesterday that its embassy in Moscow had received a telephone call from "a well-placed official in the Russian ministry of defence" who had said Moscow planned "to freeze all military cooperation with Nato and allied countries." He said Norwegian diplomats in Moscow would meet Russian officials today to clarify the implications of the freeze. "It is our understanding that other Nato countries will receive similar notes," Eide said.

Officials at Nato's headquarters in Brussels said Moscow had not informed the alliance it was taking such a step. Washington described the reported move as unfortunate.

Miliband's espousal of Nato membership for Georgia also has detractors in Labour ranks. Nick Brown, the government's deputy chief whip, delivered a blistering critique of Georgia's proposed membership on the Guardian website. "Do we really mean to commit ourselves to war against the Russian Federation if something like this happens again?" wrote Brown, a close ally of the prime minister.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/21/nato.russia

Russia blocks Georgia's main port city

By BELA SZANDELZSKY – 15 hours ago

POTI, Georgia (AP) — Russian forces blocked the only land entrance to Georgia's main oil port city on Thursday, a day before Russia promised to complete a troop pullout from its ex-Soviet neighbor.

Armored personnel carriers and troop trucks blocked the bridge to the Black Sea port city of Poti, and Russian forces excavated trenches and set up mortars facing the city. Another group of APCs and trucks were positioned in a nearby wooded area.

Although Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has promised that his forces would pull back by Friday, Russian troops appear to be digging in, raising concern about whether Moscow is aiming for a lengthy occupation of its small, pro-Western neighbor.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told The Associated Press that Russia was thinning out its presence in some occupied towns but was seizing other strategic spots. He called the Russian moves "some kind of deception game."

"(The Russians) are making fun of the world," he declared.

An EU-sponsored cease-fire says both Russian and Georgian forces must move back to positions they held before fighting broke out Aug. 7 in Georgia's separatist republic of South Ossetia, which has close ties to Russia. The agreement also says Russian forces can work in a so-called "security zone" that extends more than four miles into Georgia from South Ossetia.

Poti is at least 95 miles west of the nearest point in South Ossetia. It's also Georgia's key oil port.

Russian tanks, trucks and troops, meanwhile, continued to hold positions around the strategically key city of Gori and in Igoeti, about 30 miles west of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.

The warfare in a nation straining to escape Moscow's influence has sent tensions between Moscow and the West to some of their highest levels since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Polish counterpart signed a deal to build an American missile defense base in Poland. Last week, a top Russian general warned Poland was risking an attack, possibly a nuclear one, by developing the base.

A spokeswoman for Norway's defense ministry said Russia had told its embassy that Moscow plans to "freeze all military cooperation" with NATO and its allies. Later, Russia's Interfax news agency cited Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying Moscow was reconsidering its cooperation with the military alliance.

South Ossetia is recognized internationally as part of Georgia, but Russia says the future of the province is up to provincial leaders. President Bush and other Western leaders have stressed that Georgia must retain its current borders.

In a sign Russia plans to solidify its control of South Ossetia, Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said Russia would build 18 checkpoints in the security cordon around the province, with 270 soldiers manning front-line posts.

The parliament of another pro-Russia separatist region, Abkhazia, urged Russia on Wednesday to recognize its independence. Fighting flared in both regions before Georgia and Russia agreed to a cease-fire.

In Gori, no Russian troops or heavy weaponry could be seen Wednesday evening, including on the bridges and main access points. Earlier in the day, Russian troops had been strictly limiting access to Gori to residents and turning away foreign journalists.

Shota Abramidze, a 73-year-old retired engineer, said Gori residents wanted the Russians out.

"They've stolen everything. They've bombed everything. This is fascism, that's what this is."

Along the main highway from Gori to Tbilisi, Russian peacekeepers stopped cars and checked documents of passengers. In Gori itself, Russian troops limited access to residents and turned away foreign journalists. In a back alley, dozens of people waited for promised food.

At a military training school in the mountain town of Sachkhere, a Georgian sentry said Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers had shown up the day before and demanded to be let in, leaving only after a 30-minute standoff. He said the Russians vowed to blow up facilities in the village of Osiauri.

On Wednesday, Georgia said Russian soldiers destroyed military logistics facilities in Osiauri, but the claim could not immediately be confirmed.

About 80,000 people displaced by the fighting are in more than 600 centers in and around Tbilisi. The United Nations estimates 158,000 people in all fled their homes in the last two weeks — some south to regions around Tbilisi, some north to Russia.

Correspondent Mike Eckel in Igoeti, Georgia, contributed to this report.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gDNL ... wD92MIPRO0

Another piece of "truth" from Russia. Love it, especially that Georgian troops have not right to their own sovereign territory.

Bush can sure pick'em .