Russia, Georgia troops battle along border

[Prokomenos]

TSKHINVALI, Georgia - Russia sent tanks and reportedly bombed Georgian air bases Friday after Georgia launched a major military offensive Friday to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia, threatening to ignite a broader conflict.

Georgia’s pro-Western president said the two countries were at war, while the Bush administration urged both sides to reach a truce and said it was sending an envoy to the region.


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[Napalm]

Expected Russian reaction to the theft of Kosovo from the Serbs.

[Nikoz78]

You can believe that this puts Turkey and the rest of the region on notice. I agree, Russia should have acted on the side of Serbia.

I'd like to see Greece continue toward the Russian side of world powers. The US is not a very good ally for Greece.

Russia is a super-power, an Orthodox country and has deep historical ties with Greece. Plus it looks like Russia is not afraid of going to war.

Lets hope Turkey steps out of line.

[Nikoz78]

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov told Reuters that he is "receiving reports of ethnic cleansing in villages of South Ossetia." --
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[Nikoz78]

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV Statement on the Situation in South Ossetia

The Kremlin, Moscow

"As you know, Russia has maintained and continues to maintain a presence on Georgian territory on an absolutely lawful basis, carrying out its peacekeeping mission in accordance with the agreements concluded. We have always considered maintaining the peace to be our paramount task. Russia has historically been a guarantor for the security of the peoples of the Caucasus, and this remains true today.

Last night, Georgian troops committed what amounts to an act of aggression against Russian peacekeepers and the civilian population in South Ossetia. What took place is a gross violation of international law and of the mandates that the international community gave Russia as a partner in the peace process.

Georgia's acts have caused loss of life, including among Russian peacekeepers. The situation reached the point where Georgian peacekeepers opened fire on the Russian peacekeepers with whom they are supposed to work together to carry out their mission of maintaining peace in this region. Civilians, women, children and old people, are dying today in South Ossetia, and the majority of them are citizens of the Russian Federation.

In accordance with the Constitution and the federal laws, as President of the Russian Federation it is my duty to protect the lives and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they may be.

It is these circumstances that dictate the steps we will take now. We will not allow the deaths of our fellow citizens to go unpunished. The perpetrators will receive the punishment they deserve."

[Apollyon]

Its the begin of the end or the end of the begining?
Time will show.
Let the world fight a war and let Hellas uninvolved.Its time for us to not participate to their mess.

[half greek]

By Matt Robinson Reuters - 29 minutes agoGORI, Georgia (Reuters) -

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Russia said it had driven Georgian forces from the capital of South Ossetia on Saturday in an operation to force Georgian troops out of the breakaway region, but Tbilisi denied the claim.


Russian warplanes widened the offensive outside the immediate conflict zone to include strikes deep inside Georgia on the second day of fighting that threatens international oil and gas pipelines that bypass Russia.

Russian officials said the death toll now stood at 1,500 and 30,000 refugees from South Ossetia had fled to Russia over the past 36 hours. Russia said two of its warplanes had been shot down and 12 of its soldiers had been killed.

Russia's military response to the crisis dramatically intensified a long-running stand-off between Russia and the pro-Western Georgian leadership that has sparked alarm in the West and led to angry exchanges at the United Nations reminiscent of the Cold War.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said he would ask parliament to approve the introduction of martial law.

Russia accused the West of contributing to the violence by supplying Georgia with arms.

Ukraine, a former Soviet republic whose pro-Western government now aspires to membership of NATO and the European Union, had encouraged Georgia to carry out "ethnic cleansing" in South Ossetia, the Russian foreign ministry said.

Russia said its forces had taken the South Ossetian capital.

"Tactical groups have fully liberated Tskhinvali from the Georgian military and have started pushing Georgian units beyond the zone of peacekeepers' responsibility," Tass quoted Russian Ground Forces commander Vladimir Boldyrev as saying.

"Tskhinvali is now under the complete control of our troops," Khakha Lomaia, the secretary of the National Security Council said in Tbilisi. "Today we have hit four Russian fighter jets. We have now hit 10 in total and captured a pilot."

A Russian journalist said the South Ossetian capital had been badly hit.

"The town is destroyed. There are many casualties, many wounded," Zaid Tsarnayev told Reuters from Tskhinvali.

"I was in the hospital yesterday where I saw many civilian wounded. The hospital was later destroyed by a Georgian jet. I don't know whether the wounded were still there."

FIGHTER JET

Russian jets carried out up to five raids on mostly military targets around the Georgian town of Gori, close to the conflict zone in South Ossetia, a Reuters reporter at the scene said. But he saw at least one bomb hit an apartment, killing five people.

In Gori, a woman knelt in the street and screamed over the body of a dead man as the bombed apartment block burnt nearby.

Further down the street a shocked old woman covered in blood stared into the distance and a man knelt by the roadside with his head in his hands.

Russia said the death toll in the two-day conflict had hit 1,500 and was rising, prompting warnings from President Dmitry Medvedev of a humanitarian catastrophe that Moscow was determined to halt by force.

"Our peacekeepers and reinforcement units are currently running an operation to force the Georgian side to (agree to) peace," Russian news agencies quoted Medvedev as saying.

"They are also responsible for protecting the population. That's what we are doing now," Medvedev added.

Russian troops poured into South Ossetia on Friday, hours after Georgia launched a major offensive aimed at restoring control over the province.

Russia is the main backer of South Ossetian separatists and the majority of the population, who are ethnically distinct from Georgians, have been given Russian passports.

Tbilisi accuses Russia of launching a war against it.

Georgia was planning to bring its entire Iraq contingent of 2,000 soldiers home as soon as the United States can provide transport, the commander of the unit said on Saturday.

The Russian military said more reinforcements were on their way but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was not seeking all-out war with Georgia.

Each side blamed the other for the outbreak of fighting in the pro-Moscow enclave, which broke from Georgia as the Soviet Union came close to collapse in the early 1990s.

U.S. President George W. Bush was planning to make a statement later on Saturday.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana planned to speak by telephone with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, the French EU Presidency and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. He would also probably speak with Medvedev in the coming days.

Georgia and the Ukrainian now under the control of that thing George Soros/NWO.

[half greek]

Originally Posted by Apollyon
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Its the begin of the end or the end of the begining?
Time will show.
Let the world fight a war and let Hellas uninvolved.Its time for us to not participate to their mess.

I think the end will be when they attack Iran!

[Prokomenos]

Who knows maybe a WW3 is on its way.. It is the turn of the century no?

[Apollyon]

Originally Posted by half greek
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I think the end will be when they attack Iran!

Someone will attack to Iran. Who will it be? USA/NATO or Russia?
I believe the bear will do such thing for somekind of reason.Maybe an Irans disobedience will make a fullscale war.

Time will show.