By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
OUTSIDE TSKHINVALI, Georgia, Aug. 10 -- The Georgian army, suffering massive casualties in the face of overwhelming Russian firepower, retreated from the breakaway region of South Ossetia on Sunday. Georgian leaders' recent expressions of defiance turned increasingly into pleas for a cease-fire and Western support in the face of a military debacle.
Russia ignored calls for a truce and continued to bomb targets deep in Georgia, with little apparent opposition, drawing new condemnation from the United States and other Western countries. President Bush spoke of his "grave concern about the disproportionate response," and the White House warned of serious setbacks in relations with Russia if the onslaught against a close U.S. ally did not end.
Russian airstrikes Sunday evening hit the international airport and a military factory in the capital, Tbilisi, as well as Georgian-held positions in Abkhazia, another breakaway region on the Black Sea. Russian warships were reported to be blockading a Georgian Black Sea port and to have sunk a Georgian gunboat.
It remained unclear Sunday how far Russian troops intended to advance. Georgian villages just outside South Ossetia were shelled Sunday, clouds of smoke and burning fields visible on the horizon as artillery barrages echoed loudly. Georgians fled the villages, bedding loaded into the backs of their cars. Residents of one village outside South Ossetia, Kekhvi, said advancing Russian troops had entered their homes.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told CNN in an interview that the people of his country "are not crazy" and "have no interest whatsoever in pursuing hostilities."Western reporters entering South Ossetia with Russian troops, meanwhile, saw Georgian soldiers' bodies lying uncollected in the streets of Tskhinvali, the region's capital, and heavy damage to the city. Georgian troops launched an offensive to take control of the breakaway region early Friday. Civilians told the reporters that Georgian tanks had fired indiscriminately during the two-day seizure of the city, killing and wounding many city residents.
Georgia's retreat is translating into popular anger among Georgians against the United States and the European Union, and a widespread sentiment that this small, pro-Western country has been abandoned to face Russia alone. Georgian officials said that the West's credibility is on the line and that failure to stop the continuing attacks could embolden Russia to threaten other countries in the region.
"Russia has applied unprecedented military power . . . and it is of such amplitude that it would have scared much bigger states," Alexander Lomaia, secretary of Georgia's National Security Council, said in an interview. "This war has changed the whole system of values of pro-Western, liberal-minded people. I don't want to be a bad prophet, but why would Russia stop here? There are other countries where Russia thinks it has a claim to territory."
According to Lomaia, at least 7,000 Russian troops, backed by combat aircraft and heavy weaponry, attacked Tskhinvali, bloodying Georgia's forces in and around the city. Georgian officials acknowledged that their troops were routed and quickly retreated early Sunday.
"Very many military servicemen were killed, probably in the hundreds," Lomaia said, speaking of Georgian casualties in Sunday night's offensive. Hundreds of wounded were taken to hospitals in Tbilisi, according to doctors at one hospital.
Two journalists working for the Russian edition of Newsweek were killed near Tskhinvali after approaching the city from the Georgian side.
"There were more and more of them," said one retreating Georgian soldier near Tskhinvali, speaking of the attacking Russians. Another soldier said his unit received orders to retreat about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Villagers in the area said they could hear the rumble of the fleeing Georgian forces through the night.
Read page 2 of the Washington Post's full report!
It remained unclear Sunday how far Russian troops intended to advance. Georgian villages just outside South Ossetia were shelled Sunday, clouds of smoke and burning fields visible on the horizon as artillery barrages echoed loudly. Georgians fled the villages, bedding loaded into the backs of their cars. Residents of one village outside South Ossetia, Kekhvi, said advancing Russian troops had entered their homes.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told CNN in an interview that the people of his country "are not crazy" and "have no interest whatsoever in pursuing hostilities."Western reporters entering South Ossetia with Russian troops, meanwhile, saw Georgian soldiers' bodies lying uncollected in the streets of Tskhinvali, the region's capital, and heavy damage to the city. Georgian troops launched an offensive to take control of the breakaway region early Friday. Civilians told the reporters that Georgian tanks had fired indiscriminately during the two-day seizure of the city, killing and wounding many city residents.
Georgia's retreat is translating into popular anger among Georgians against the United States and the European Union, and a widespread sentiment that this small, pro-Western country has been abandoned to face Russia alone. Georgian officials said that the West's credibility is on the line and that failure to stop the continuing attacks could embolden Russia to threaten other countries in the region.
"Russia has applied unprecedented military power . . . and it is of such amplitude that it would have scared much bigger states," Alexander Lomaia, secretary of Georgia's National Security Council, said in an interview. "This war has changed the whole system of values of pro-Western, liberal-minded people. I don't want to be a bad prophet, but why would Russia stop here? There are other countries where Russia thinks it has a claim to territory."
According to Lomaia, at least 7,000 Russian troops, backed by combat aircraft and heavy weaponry, attacked Tskhinvali, bloodying Georgia's forces in and around the city. Georgian officials acknowledged that their troops were routed and quickly retreated early Sunday.
"Very many military servicemen were killed, probably in the hundreds," Lomaia said, speaking of Georgian casualties in Sunday night's offensive. Hundreds of wounded were taken to hospitals in Tbilisi, according to doctors at one hospital.
Two journalists working for the Russian edition of Newsweek were killed near Tskhinvali after approaching the city from the Georgian side.
"There were more and more of them," said one retreating Georgian soldier near Tskhinvali, speaking of the attacking Russians. Another soldier said his unit received orders to retreat about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Villagers in the area said they could hear the rumble of the fleeing Georgian forces through the night.
Read page 2 of the Washington Post's full report!
6 comments:
Quite frankly, I have no remorse for Georgia. I'm becoming increasingly unsurprised by the bias of western media, "oh those poor Georgians..." Have they forgot about the roughly 2000 civilians that were bombed in the middle of the night in S. Ossetia? The Georgians invade S. Ossetia and slaughter nearly 2000 citizens, 99% of which favor independence. I read that 90% of the people who live there hold duel citizenship in both Georgia and Russia. Russia has been evacuating as many refuges as they can across the boarder into N. Ossetia, and just today I read reports that Georgians were attacking the evacuation route. Meanwhile, Georgians call for a ceasefire, while they try and flood the region so the innocent civilians hiding in their basements get washed out to die in the bombings.
I've been following this issue closely, and I was very surprised when the U.S. took sides with the Georgians. Then I read that British Petroleum owns 30% of the pipeline that runs through the country, and suddenly it makes sense.
If there is anybody to hold accountable for this war...it's the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and his decision to start boarder-line ethnic cleansing on Russian citizens. What was he thinking? It's hard to have sympathy for the Georgian government, but all to easy to have sympathy for the thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire. God save them.
edit: it's estimated that 70% of S. Ossetia's population held Russian citizenship as of August 2008, still a very striking number.
I understand the point your making with the media being in favor of Georgia, but it is important I think to remember that Russia is not an angel in all of this. They have repetedly bombed Georgian cities well inside of Georgia itself and thus far away from the fighting. Also, I've not heard or been able to find anythng on Georgia deliberatly attacking civilian evacuation routes, and the 2000 civilians killed number I believe is from the first day of fighting when both Russian and Georgian armies were fighting in South Ossetia.
In addition theSouth Ossetian's themsleves do share some part of the blame. While I believe Georgia may have acted very harshly/suddenly (I'm not sure, I was away from news when this all started) I do know one of the sparks of this was the killing of 6 Georgian policemen in South Ossetia, which is clearly not something anyone can condone. Further, while the majority of citizens may want independence from the mother country that doesn't necessarily give them the right to have independence. If it did, then we would all have to start advocating for the oil and natural gas rich regions of Bolivia to gain independence as they wish. I'm not saying they should never be given that option, but I do think that saying that just becuase they want it they automatically get it leads to a lot of problems in a lot of other places in the world, likely including the US.
In addition, while the Georgian president may have been to blame, it is no secret that the Russian President (and the Prime Minister for that matter) have both been very hostile towards Georgia as it has sought closer ties with the west and as it has sought to join NATO.
The Georgians do share some of the blame, but I think its hard to make the case that the entire thing is their fault when they're the ones who have foreign troops in their lands.
First of all...Russia wasn't even involved until days after Georgia attacked S. Ossetia and slaughtered 1,600 of it's own civilians on the night of August 7th, and continued Aug 8th (depending on the source, Georgian media of course says they only killed 100). It was later on the 8th when Putin left Beijing and the first reports of Russian aircraft entering Georgian airspace came through the media, followed later in the day by the 58th Army. It wasn't until Aug. 9th that the Army reached Tskhinvali, the capital of S. Ossetia. So no...those civilians deaths were NOT due to fighting between Russia and Georgian armies, they were slaughtered by the Georgian army after Saakashvili decided an invasion was the proper way to dispose of the de facto state. 1000's of civilians fled the region across the boarder into N. Ossetia before Russia was ever involved. Also, nobody currently knows who started the fighting in S. Ossetia, but like I said they declared independence in 2006, and fighting in the region had been increasingly more violent prior to Georgia's decision to take MILITARY action. Even if the policemen story is true, military action is a big leap for such common skirmishes in a contested de facto state. Saakashvili should have known better, and must be a complete idiot for not realizing the consequences of his actions.
http://www.rian.ru/incidents/20080808/150178662.html
There is the article linked on the conflict wiki which reports on the shelling of Tskhinvali during Aug. 8th and the evacuation route. This is still before Russia has arrived to take back the city. It is a Russian source however, so take it with a grain of salt. Quite frankly though I trust the Russian media much more than the loads of misinformation Georgia has been putting out. The wiki lists information from both sources, and can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_2008_South_Ossetia_war #cite_note-17
Read up on the conflict, and then try and tell me Russia didn't have every right to get pissed. I say again, I have no sympathy for the Georgian government and specifically their president Mikheil Saakashvili, who can be seen here eating his own tie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49wOzZdWWYM
I just feel so bad for all the people who died because of a couple moronic politicians within Georgia's government. I feel the same way about the thousands of deaths in Iraq for the same reason...
Well first off, I've been reading up on this, and while it does appear that the Georgians were responsible for most of the deaths in Tskhinvali those deaths numbered about 50 dead, and around 280 wounded (counting both civilians and military personnel) according to Human Rights Watch, not nearly the 1,600 as has been claimed by Russia. And in fact it has only been from Russia and Russian news sources (which are notoriously pro-Russian) where the number of 1,600 civilians killed in South Osseita, or of the bombing of the evacuation route, making me think that number was thrown out to the press to garner sympathy for Russia.
Furthermore I continue to say that if a region can unilaterally declare independence then we need to recognize the regions of Bolivia that have done that as well, as well as places in Sri Lanka and I believe throughout Indonesia. I understand that they want independence, but to say that their wishes alone grant them such a right is a very slippery slope.
Furthermore, regardless of whether Russia had the right to get pissed or not, how is it possible that getting pissed gives them the right to invade Georgia (not to mention South Ossetia), and how does it give them the right to bomb Georgian towns?
I'm not saying Georgia is innocent in all of this, but you seem to be saying that Georgia is fully guilty of whatever happened and that Russia was simply trying to stop the mass killing of civilians, which I don't believe was true. I believe each side wanted control of South Osseita, and both sides were willing to use military force to get what they wanted, with the end result that a lot of people died and nothing was settled.
Human Right's watch is a U.S. based NGO...I hardly believe they haven't been influenced to report pro-Georgian attitudes as well. We can average the numbers if you want, but quite frankly the fact is that Georgia took military action against a Russian supported de facto state. BIG MISTAKE.
S. Ossetia WANTED Russia to come help them...that's the difference. During the American revolution we garnered help from France. Britain no doubt claimed that France was invading their colonies, but they failed to realize that those colonies desperately wanted the help of the French, just how you fail to realize that the S. Ossetian's desperately wanted the help of Russia. I saw pictures on digg with refugees carrying signs that read "Russia Please Save Us."
I don't care whether they are internationally recognized for that independence, but if that independence is SUPPORTED by RUSSIA...you better watch your step. The de facto groups in Bolivia and the others you listed have one major difference from S. Ossetia...they don't have a WORLD SUPERPOWER backing their independence!
I agree with you on one point though, I definitely think Russia could have handled things 10,000x better than they did...but for God sakes it's RUSSIA! We learned long ago during the cold war that you don't want to f with Russia! EVEN IF you have the nukes to do it with...you simply don't piss off Russia, because they will have no remorse, no sympathy, no regard for human rights, and will pwn your ass to kingdom come. Sure the Russia of today is a little better than the U.S.S.R. of the past, but I can't imagine their army being much more sympathetic. Of course I agree Russia is on a murderous rampage...but Saakasvili brought it upon himself and his citizens. I'm in no way promoting war and all the death that comes with it...but I know who's the blame when I see it. Saakasvili made a gigantic mistake and now thousands are dead because of it. Russia shouldn't be supported for their actions, but I can damn well blame Georgian politicians for bringing about such chaos.
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