Russo-Georgian War

2008 South Ossetia war
Part of Georgian-Ossetian conflict and Georgian-Abkhazian conflict
Location of Georgia (including the de facto independent provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia) and the Russian part of North Caucasus
Date August 7, 2008 – Location Georgia Result Ceasefire currently in effect
Belligerents
Russia Separatist Republics: South Ossetia Abkhazia	Georgia
Commanders and leaders
Eduard Kokoity Dmitry Medvedev Vladimir Putin Anatoly Khrulyov Vladimir Shamanov Marat Kulakhmetov Vyacheslav Borisov Sulim Yamadayev Sergei Bagapsh	Mikheil Saakashvili Davit Kezerashvili Zaza Gogava
Strength
18,000 including reservists; unknown number of volunteers Est. at least 15,000 regulars in Georgia (as of 13/07/08), not including support and rear troops (in Russia and on the sea); unknown number of irregulars 5,000 not including reservists; unknown number of volunteers More than 38,000 total	37,000 regulars, including 2,000 initially in Iraq; unknown number of conscripted reservists and volunteers; unknown number of Georgian Police deployed in the conflict zone At least 37,000 total
Casualties and losses
Confirmed by Russia: 133 civilians 64 soldiers killed, 323 wounded Unknown number of losses among the volunteers Unknown Georgian estimate: 400 Russian regulars killed	Confirmed by Georgia: 215 killed and 300 missing. Russian estimate: 4,000 casualties
133 South Ossetians civilians have been identified so far, Russian/Ossetian initial estimate of more than 2,000 South Ossetians killed; a later estimate of total civilian casualties is 1,492.
At least 158,000 civilians displaced (including 56,000 from Gori, Georgia and 15,000 South Ossetian Georgians per UNHCR). Estimate by Georgian Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs: at least 230,000. Displaced from South Ossetia to Russia: Russian estimate, 30,000; HRW estimate, 24,000. As many as half may have returned as armed volunteers.

The 2008 South Ossetia war formally began on August 7, 2008 with a military attack by Georgia into South Ossetia, one of two provinces which had declared independence sixteen years previously in 1992, although neither province's sovereignty had been recognized internationally. Russian armed forces quickly responded with a large scale counter-attack into South Ossetia, also advancing to a significant extent into provinces of Georgia outside South Ossetia. A preliminary cease-fire was arranged by the President-in-Office of the European Union, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on August 12, and signed by Georgia and Russia on August 15, 2008.

The war involves the country of Georgia, the Russian Federation and the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The war began after a ceasefire agreement between Georgia and South Ossetia broke down, with an escalation of fire exchanges. Georgia then proceeded to launch a major military offensive in South Ossetia. The Georgian government said the troops had been sent to end the shelling of Georgian civilians by South Ossetian secessionists. In the following battle, the capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, was heavily damaged. Starting on the August 2 and increasing with the intensifying fighting, a stream of refugees from South Ossetia fled into Russian region of North Ossetia, reaching an estimated 30,000 of the 70,000 overall population. More than 11,000 of them returned after the intervention of Russia in the war. South Ossetian and Russian authorities alleged a civilian death toll of over 2,000 early in the conflict. However, on August 13 Anna Neistat of Human Rights Watch, while acknowledging that investigation was not yet complete, said that this figure was "suspicious" and "very doubtful", citing a Tshinvalli hospital report of 273 wounded and 44 dead. A study of casualties over the period from August 8 until August 20 concluded that the precise count is 1,492 dead as the result of the bombing of Tskhinvali

Russia responded the next day by large scale bombardment of Georgian military and civilian targets by sending troops and armor into South Ossetia, quickly driving the Georgian troops out of Tskhinvali. The Russian air attacks on the Georgian city of Gori also hit civilian targets. The president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili claims that Russia is attempting to cause a regime change to depose the democraticly elected Georgian government due to Georgia's close relations with Western nations. By August 18, about 100,000 ethnic Georgians have fled their homes in South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Georgia proper due to the conflict, while many of their homes were reportedly looted and destroyed by pro-Russian irregular forces. By August 17, the United Nations confirmed "massive looting" in Gori, while South Ossetia acknowledged it is keeping more than 100 Georgian civilians hostage, including women and children.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused Georgia of committing "genocide" while President Dmitry Medvedev stated that his country's goal was "to force the Georgian side to peace", and that he "must protect lives and the dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are." The Georgian leader has also appealed to the world for help after accusing Russia of conducting "ethnic cleansing" in his country, claiming that it had depopulated the entire South Ossetia region of its Georgian civilians and that almost all Georgian residents of Kodori Valley were expelled by the Abkhaz separatists with the aid of the Russian military. The Georgian side has also filed a lawsuit against Russia in the International Court of Justice, claiming Russia, through the separatist authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, violated a convention meant to eliminate racism. South Ossetian separatist leadership said it does "not intend" to let the Georgian civilians return to their homes.

August 12, Georgia launched the application against actions of Russia in the International Court of Justice .

Background

Main article: Background of the 2008 South Ossetia war

See also: Georgian-Ossetian conflict; South Ossetian independence referendum, 2006; and 2008 Georgia-Russia crisis

Detailed map of the Caucasus region (1994), including locations of economically important energy and mineral resources: South Ossetia has reserves of lead and zinc, Abkhazia has coal, and Georgia has oil, gold, copper, manganese, and coal.

The Ossetians are a distinct Iranian ethnic group whose origin lies along the Don River. They came to the Caucasus after they were driven out of their homeland by Mongol invasions in the 13th century. Some of them settled in the territory now known as North Ossetia-Alania (currently part of Russia), and South Ossetia (currently part of Georgia).

South Ossetia, which has a Georgian ethnic minority of around one fifth (14,000) of the total population (70,000), broke away from Georgia in the 1991–1992 war (in which more than 2,000 people are believed to have died). Russian peacekeepers were then stationed in South Ossetia under OSCE mandate and monitoring. 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. In a 2006 South Ossetian independence referendum, held by the secessionist government, full independence was supported by 99% of the voters. Georgia accuses Russia of the annexation of its internationally recognized territory and installing a puppet government led by Eduard Kokoity and several officials who previously served in the Russian FSB and Army. Restoring South Ossetia and Abkhazia (a region with a similar separatist movement) to Georgian control has been a goal of Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili since the Rose Revolution.

According to Russian President Medvedev, 90% of South Ossetians possess Russian passports and thereby qualify for protection under article 80 of the Russian constitution. Reuters describes the South Ossetian separatist government as "dependent on Russia," which "supplies two thirds of their 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 there.

To build alliance with NATO, Georgia conducted in 2008 a NATO membership referendum.

The only question of the referendum asked: "Do you want Georgia to become a member of NATO?" According to the official results of Georgia's Central Election Commission, 77% of voters were in favor, and 23% voted against it. However, at the 2008 Bucharest summit, to the great disappointment of Georgia, the alliance did not offer a Membership Action Plan (MAP) to Georgia or Ukraine, largely due to the opposition of Germany, France and other European NATO members who pointed out that Georgia's territorial integrity was de facto not enforced (namely in Abkhazia and South-Ossetia). However, NATO pledged to review the decision in December 2008. Even though Georgia was not offered a MAP, it officially welcomed the decision and said "The decision to accept that we are going forward to an adhesion to NATO was taken and we consider this is a historic success". Then president Vladimir Putin was also pleased about the alliance deciding not to invite Georgia and Ukraine to the Membership Action Plan at least for the time being.

There are also also analysts citing Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence as a reason for the Russo-Georgian conflict. There were suggestions that South Ossetia and Abkhazia, should they decide to stay as autonomous regions inside Georgia, an international mechanism to oversee negotiations for a referendum should be established. If, on the other hand, they wish to separate they too should be granted that wish and helped to achieve independence. Pope Benedict XVI's words were invoked where he said the strongest pillar in international relations must be reciprocity. In the same vein, using the Kosovo model, this could be achieved elsewhere. Other experts dispute the relevance of Kosovo, however.

Timeline of events

Main article: Timeline of the 2008 South Ossetia war

Late on August 1, 2008, intense fighting began between Georgian troops and the forces of South Ossetia. Georgia claimed that South Ossetian separatists had shelled Georgian villages in violation of a ceasefire. South Ossetia denied provoking the conflict. On August 3, South Ossetians started to evacuate into Russia and on August 5, Russian ambassador Yuri Popov warned that Russia would intervene if conflict erupted. On August 7, 2008, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili ordered Georgian troops to ceasefire. Despite the declared ceasefire, fighting intensified. Hours after the declaration of the ceasefire, in a televised address, Mikheil Saakashvili vowed to restore Tbilisi's control over what he called the "criminal regime" in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and reinforce order.

During the night and early morning, Georgia launched a military offensive to surround and capture the capital of separatist Republic of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali thus breaking the terms of the 1992 ceasefire and crossing into the security zone established therein. The heavy shelling, which included Georgian rockets being fired into South Ossetia left parts of the capital city in ruins, causing a humanitarian crisis which Russian government sources claimed amounted to genocide. 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." Russia claimed up to 2,000 dead in Tskhinvali following the shelling. The extent of civilian casualties was later disputed in a number of sources. By morning, Georgia announced that it had surrounded the city and captured eight South Ossetian villages. An independent Georgian TV station announced that Georgian military took control of the city

At Russia’s request, the United Nations Security Council held consultations at 11pm (US EST time), followed by an open meeting at 1.15am (US EST time), 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.

Russian intervention

In the opinion of the independent Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer, "Russia's invasion of Georgia had been planned in advance, with the final political decision to complete the preparations and start war in August apparently having been made back in April."

After the tentative ceasefire was brokered, BBC opined that "whether or not either side was deliberately planning to go to war or just over-reacting to circumstances, it is clear that both Russia and Georgia were prepared for a sudden escalation in the violence. Both Georgia's assault on Tskhinvali, and Russia's response to it, were swift and brutal", with both sides' actions being described by human rights groups as "disproportionate".

On August 8 2008, Russia sent troops across the Georgian border, into South Ossetia, to stop Georgia’s offensive against the breakaway territory. In five days of fighting, the Russian forces captured the regional capital Tskhinvali, pushed back Georgian troops, and largely destroyed Georgia’s military infrastructure using airstrikes deep inside the smaller country's territory. Georgia retreated from its offensive in South Ossetia to defend itself.

On August 9, actions on the Black Sea, resulted in one Georgian missile boat being sunk by the Russian Navy. The Russians claimed that the Georgian ships had attacked them earlier. After the skirmish, the remaining Georgian ships fled in defeat. Elsewhere on August 9, a second front was opened by the military of the Georgia's separatist Republic of Abkhazia in the Kodori Valley, the only region of Abkhazia that was, before the war began, still in effective control of Georgian loyalists. By August 13, all of the remaining Georgian forces, including at least 1,500 civilians in the Kodori Valley, had retreated to Georgia proper.

On the night of 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 entered and left the military base near the town of Senaki outside Abkhazia on the 11th, leaving the base there destroyed. Gori was shelled by the Russians; one shell killed Stan Storimans, a Dutch reporter from the RTL channel. Georgian military and most of residents of the Gori District fled the Russian advance. Since Gori is along Georgia's main highway, its occupation by Russian forces would cut Georgia's lines of communication and logistics in two.

Most international observers began calling for a peaceful solution to the conflict. The European Union and the United States expressed a willingness to send a joint delegation to try and negotiate a cease-fire. 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.

Ceasefire and occupation

On August 12, 2008, Russian President Medvedev said that he had ordered an end to military operations in Georgia. Later on the same day (August 12), Russian president Medvedev approved a six-point peace plan brokered by President-in-Office of the European Union, Nicolas Sarkozy, in Moscow; both sides were to sign it by the 17th. Russian troops drove through the port of Poti on the 12th, and took up positions around it.

On August 13, 2008, the 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.

On August 14, 2008, efforts to institute joint patrols of Georgian and Russian police in Gori broke down due to apparent discord among personnel.

On August 15, 2008, Reuters stated that Russian forces had pushed to 34 miles (55 km) from Tbilisi, the closest during the war; they stopped in Igoeti 41°59′22″N 44°25′04″E, 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.

A Reuters witness said the Russian military convoy advanced to within 55 km (34 miles) of Tbilisi on Friday. That day, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also traveled to Tbilisi, where Saakashvili signed the 6-point peace plan in her presence.

On August 16, the Russians had occupied Poti, as well as military bases in Gori and Senaki.

On August 17, the BBC's Richard Galpin, who has spent the past two days travelling from the Black Sea port of Poti to Tbilisi, says Georgian forces seem to be surrendering control of the highway to the Russians. According to BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse, there is a "much-reduced" Russian military presence in Gori and lorries can be seen delivering humanitarian aid. But he says Russian soldiers still control the town's key entry and exit points.

On August 19, 2008, the Russian forces in Poti took prisoner 21 Georgian troops who had approached the city. They were taken to a Russian base at Senaki; there is dispute whether they were later released. Some Russian armor left Gori for an uncertain destination.

Peace plan: Roadmap to end of military hostilities

Ethnic map of the Caucasus from 1995: Ossetians live in North and South Ossetia, as well as in central Georgia.

Demands to end conflict

On August 7 2008, a few hours before Georgia began its main offensive operation, Saakashvili ordered a unilateral ceasefire and called for talks "in any format"; reaffirmed the long-standing offer of full autonomy for South Ossetia; proposed that Russia should guarantee that solution; offered a general amnesty; and pleaded for international intercession to stop the hostilities. On August 10, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin ruled out peace talks with Georgia until it pulled back its forces beyond the borders of South Ossetia and signed a legally binding pact renouncing the use of force against South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway territory of Georgia.

Ceasefire

On August 11, Russian President Medvedev hinted at an end to the conflict saying, "A significant part of the operation to force the Georgian authorities to make peace in South Ossetia has been concluded," and "Tskhinvali is under the control of a reinforced Russian peacekeeping contingent." Russian Prime Minister Putin added Moscow would take its mission in the region to "a logical conclusion." Later the same day, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili signed an EU-backed ceasefire, but the document was rejected by Moscow. According to a Reuters witness, Georgian troops did not cease fire, as six helicopters attacked Tskhinvali on August 11. An Associated Press reporter saw 135 Russian military vehicles, including tanks, driving toward the Kodori Gorge, held by Georgian forces. The acting Georgian ambassador to Britain told Sky News that Russian jets bombed civilian targets in Georgia despite Moscow's announcement that the war had ended.

On August 12, 2008 at 09:00 UTC Russian president and Russian Army Supreme Commander-in-Chief Dmitry Medvedev stated that the "peace enforcing operation in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone" was over. Later, Russian General Staff Deputy Chief Anatoliy Nogovitsyn said armed actions would stop, but reconnaissance operations would continue.

On August 13, a reporter for the UK The Guardian stated that "the idea there is a ceasefire is ridiculous," and that he could see villages near Gori burning, amidst claims that Chechen, Cossack and Ossetian irregulars were advancing through Georgian villages. CNN reported that journalists in Gori said they had seen no Russian tanks, contrary to claims by the Georgian president. According to Sky News, Georgia's deputy interior minister said "I'd like to calm everybody down. The Russian military is not advancing towards the capital." The same report said "Sky News correspondents Stuart Ramsay and Jason Farrell confirmed there were tanks in Gori, which has suffered extensively from Russian bombing raids" Al Jazeera reported a "continuous build up" of Russian forces in Poti throughout the day, and the destruction of several Georgian vessels. Russia's deputy chief of General Staff Colonel-General Anatoliy Nogovitsyn said sporadic clashes continued in South Ossetia between Georgian snipers and Russian troops. "We must respond to provocations," he said. On August 19, Medvedev said that Russia will pull its troops in Georgia back to the positions set out in the ceasefire agreement on August 22.

Six-point peace plan

File:Medvedev,Bagapsh,Kokoity.jpg

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev with Eduard Kokoity (South Ossetia) and Sergei Bagapsh (Abkhazia) shortly before the signing of the Six Principles. (August 14, 2008)

On August 12, Russian President Medvedev 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. 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.

1. No recourse to the use of force.

2. Definitive cessation of hostilities.

3. Free access to humanitarian aid (addition rejected: and to allow the return of refugees).

4. Georgian military forces must withdraw to their normal bases of encampment.

5. Russian military forces must withdraw to the lines prior to the start of hostilities. While awaiting an international mechanism, Russian peacekeeping forces will implement additional security measures (addition rejected: six months).

6. Opening of international discussions on the modalities of lasting security in Abkhazia and South Ossetia (addition rejected: based on the decisions of the UN and the OSCE).

According to RIA Novosti, "Sarkozy told a briefing after talks with his Georgian counterpart that the deal also includes some changes requested by Georgia... 'we have removed the issue of South Ossetia's status from the document'". But the The New York Times, citing a Georgian negotiator, reported that Sarkozy convinced Georgia to accept the Russian version unchanged, after Medvedev waited two hours to return his phone call and then rejected the proposed changes. The U.S. newspaper further asserted that the fifth point was crucial, and Russia used it to justify continuing hostilities into Georgia proper after the agreement. The International Herald Tribune reported on August 15, 2008, that the agreement included a letter from Sarkozy, clarifying a provision that allowed Russia a continued military presence outside the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, said Giga Bokeria, Georgia's deputy foreign minister. The letter stated that Russia's permission to conduct continued security operations in Georgia does not extend to populated areas or the main east-west highway that is the country's lifeline, Bokeria said. On August 14, Medvedev met with South Ossetia President Eduard Kokoity and Abkhazia President Sergei Bagapsh, where they signed the six principles.

The Organization 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. On August 18, Russia also initially opposed the deployment of 100 new observers into the region, but later accepted them. There have been difficulties with delivering humanitarian aid to the area, because OSCE personnel are blocked access into Tskhinvali or Gori by Russian forces and various irregulars, according to the head of the OSCE mission to Georgia. The Russian-backed South Ossetian president Kokotyi has also refused to accept international peacekeepers. It appears that Russia allows military observers access only to Georgian heartland but not the separatist regions. The ceasefire remains without external monitoring.

Russian statements on withdrawal

On August 17, 2008, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev stated that Russia would begin to withdraw its troops on August 18, 2008.

On August 19, 2008, Reuters reported that the Kremlin had said that Russian troops would pull back from Georgia's heartland by the end of the week. A Russian officer said that "today we can say that the process has started," although the withdrawal from Gori might be slowed down by badly congested roads. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he expected the withdrawal to pre-conflict positions to be completed within three to four days. As of the 19th, Russian checkpoints still blocked the main east-west highway linking Tbilisi with Georgia's Black Sea ports. Also on the 19th, President Dmitry Medvedev also said that by August 22 Russia would pull its troops in Georgia back to the positions set out in a French-brokered ceasefire agreement.

On August 20, 2008, a Russian spokesman, speaking to the Moscow Times anonymously at the Kremlin, said that the small troop movement then under way was a "pullback", not a "withdrawal". That same day, Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian army general staff, told reporters that Russia would establish 18 long-term checkpoints inside Georgian territory, including at least eight within undisputed Georgian territory, with one just outside the Georgian city of Gori. Russia would hold "buffer zones" around South Ossetia and Abkhazia; the latter would include Senaki.

Infrastructure damage

1993 map showing the defence industries of Georgia at the time: Tbilaviamsheni, an aircraft assembly plant in Tbilisi which was bombed during the war, and component plants in other cities.

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. Reuters reported an attack on the civilian Tbilisi International Airport, though Russia claimed otherwise. Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Iakobashvili also denied this, reportedly stating, "There was no attack on the airport in Tbilisi. It was a factory that produces combat airplanes."

According to Russia, about 20% of the Tskhinvali's buildings have suffered various damage, including 10% of "beyond repair". Russia's military claimed the retreating Georgian forces have mined civilian infrastructure in South Ossetia.

Humanitarian impact

According to August 18 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), at the start of the military conflict on August 7, 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 militia are terrorizing the civilian population, forcing them to flee their homes and preventing displaced people from returning home.

The organization 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 organizations to send fact-finding missions to establish the facts, report on human rights, and urge the authorities to account for any crimes.

South Ossetians

On August 8, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urged the combatants to make a humanitarian corridor to evacuate the wounded and civilians from Tskhinvali. The fighting interrupted electricity and telephone service in Tskhinvali, and some inhabitants sheltered in basements with no access to water or medicines. Russian media reported on August 9 that several journalists were hiding in the basements, as they appealed to world society for a peace corridor to let them out of Tskhinvali. On August 10, the Russian Ambassador in Tbilisi claimed that "at least 2,000" people had been killed, and the chief of Russian ground forces said that the Georgian shelling has destroyed "all the hospitals" in Tskhinvali. However, it turned out that the city hospital, which was hit in the roof by a single Grad rocket, did not collapse at all; the rocket damaged part of the second and third floors. Hospital, whose outer walls were also hit by either small arms fire or shrapnel, continued to operate in the building's basement until August 13, when all the patients were evacuated to Russia.

According to western media who arrived in the city and were toured by the Russian military on August 12, "[s]everal residential areas seemed to have little damage", while the heaviest hit appeared to be buildings in and near the government district. Despite the early claims that "the city was burnt to the ground, leveled. (...) like Stalingrad", on August 17 Russia admitted that only 20% of some 7,000 buildings in Tskhinvali suffered any damage, with 1/10 of buildings being beyond repair.

From August 8 to 13, the Tskhinvali hospital treated 273 wounded, both military and civilians. Fourty-four bodies had been brought to the hospital; these represented the majority of Ossetians killed in Tskhinvali, because the city morgue was not functioning due to the lack of electricity. On August 14, South Ossetian officials claimed they have identified 200 corpses of South Ossetian civilians, saying that 500 are missing; at the same time, Russian investigators said they had identified a total of 60 civilians killed during the fighting. By August 18, following an investigation in South Ossetia and amongst refugees, the number of civilians confirmed killed was put by Russia at 133; nevertheless, South Ossetian officials said 1,492 people died.

South Ossetian women and children in a refugee camp set up in the town of Alagir, North Ossetia. Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev

The UN refugee agency, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said that thousands of refugees left South Ossetia, mostly for North Ossetia-Alania in Russia within the first days of the conflict. On August 10, HRW obtained official figures on the number of displaced persons tallied by the Russian government agency in Vladikavkaz, according to which, the Federal Migration Service registered 24,032 persons who crossed the border from South Ossetia into Russia. However, 11,190 of those went back after the Russian intervention in the war; the government stated that “the overall number [of the displaced] was decreasing because of the people who return to join to volunteer militias of South Ossetia”; furthermore, the figures cannot be considered accurate, as many people cross the border back and forth and thus get registered two or more times. On August 15, UNHCR, relying on figures provided by Georgian and Russian officials, said at least 30,000 South Ossetians have fled across the border into North Ossetia. On August 16, Russia put this number at over 10,000 refugees, indicating that majority has already returned.

HRW entered the mostly deserted Tskhinvali on August 13 and reported that it saw numerous apartment buildings and houses damaged by shelling. It said some of them had been hit by "inherently indiscriminate" weapons that should not be used in areas populated by civilians, such as rockets most likely fired from BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launchers. Since Georgian and Russian forces use identical Soviet-era weapons systems including Grad rockets, HRW couldn't definitely attribute specific battle damage to a particular belligerent, but witness accounts and the timing of the damage would point to Georgian fire accounting for much of the damage. In Tskhinvali, HRW saw numerous severely damaged civilian objects, including a hospital, apartment buildings, houses, schools, kindergartens, shops, administrative buildings, and the university. However, the group also noted that Ossetian militias in some neighborhoods took up defensive positions inside civilian apartment buildings, which drew fire from Georgian forces.

On August 18, South Ossetians alleged that they "estimate 500 Ossetian civilians were kidnapped and taken away by Georgian forces from the south of Tskhinvali". Georgian government answered: "They want to exchange [Georgian hostages] for our hostages. The problem is we don't have any hostages so we can't do any exchange." By August 20, the South Ossetian estimate was scaled down to some 170 "peaceful citiziens" allegedly held by Georgia.

Georgians

Most refugees in the conflict are ethnic Georgians. Before the war started, one estimate of the population of Georgians living in South Ossetia was 18,000 people, or one quarter of the population of the break-away republic. On August 15, UNHCR said that up to 15,000 ethnic Georgians have fled into the other parts of Georgia from South Ossetia. In addition, as of August 15, some 73,000 people were displaced in Georgia proper (most of them from the city Gori); many also fled from Abkhazia. Most had no possessions with them, save for the clothes they were wearing when they fled, and were crammed into makeshift centres without even basic amenities. By August 19, the UNHCR figure of the displaced persons rose to 158,000, the vast majority of them ethnic Georgians.

Between August 9 and August 12, residential districts and a media center in the Georgian city of Gori were attacked by Russian Air Force, including by cluster bombs on August 12, killing and injuring numerous civilians (including several journalists, among them the Dutch cameraman Stan Storimans who died). On August 15, HRW said it had collected evidence of Russian warplanes using cluster bombs; the international rights group urged Russia to stop using the weapons, which 107 nations have agreed to outlaw. On the same day, Russian General Nogovitsyn claimed: "We never use cluster bombs. There is no need to do so." During the final strikes, an air-to-ground missile smashed into the Gori hospital with deadly effect.

On August 10, Georgia charged that ethnic cleansing of Georgians was occurring behind Russian lines. On August 12, HRW researchers in South Ossetia claimed that they witnessed at least four ethnic Georgian villages still burning from fires set by South Ossetian militias and witnessed looting by the militias. A HRW researcher said that "the remaining residents of these destroyed ethnic Georgian villages are facing desperate conditions, with no means of survival, no help, no protection, and nowhere to go." On August 13, an interviewed South Ossetian officer said that the separatist forces "burned these houses (...) to make sure that they [the Georgians] can’t come back." HRW also learned from an Ossetian officer about the summary execution of a Georgian combatant, and that the looters, who were "everywhere" in the Georgian villages in South Ossetia, have been "now moving to Gori". On August 17, the first UN aid convoy to the Gori "clear signs of massive looting of both shops and private accommodation".

On August 12, Associated Press (AP, U.S. source) journalists toured by the Russian military through Tskhinvali claimed that they witnessed numerous fires in what appeared to be deserted ethnic Georgian neighborhoods and saw evidence of looting in those areas; they said that while a Russian army officer touring claimed said some of the buildings had been burning for days from the fighting, in fact none of the houses was burning before more than 24 hours after the battle for the city was over. By August 14, already after the official ceasefire, many international media outlets reported Georgian government and refugee stories that Ossetian and often also other pro-Russian irregulars (including reports of Cossack and Chechen paramilitaries, and even some Russian regular soldiers) were looting and burning Georgian villages in South Ossetia and near Gori. Some of the emerging stories featured reports of atrocities, including kidnapping, rape and indiscriminate murder. These reports could not be independently confirmed; as BBC News summed it up on August 14, "The testimonies of those who have fled villages around South Ossetia are consistent, but with all roads blocked and the Russian military now in charge of the area, the scale of alleged reprisal killings and lootings is difficult to verify." The new waves of Georgian refugees bringing reports of the widespread pillage and "revenge" killings in the territories occupied by the Russian forces kept coming over the next days.

On August 13, Russian interior minister Rashid Nurgaliev said there would be "decisive and tough" measures taken against looters; according to Russia's Interfax, two looters were executed by firing squad in South Ossetia. Nevertheless, on August 15, The Daily Telegraph reporter witnessed South Ossetian irregulars continuing to loot and pillage around Gori, often with the encouragement of Russian troops, including a Russian officer shouting to "take whatever you want." Vehicles were even carjacked from the UN aid officials by paramiliaries while Russian soldiers watched. According to HRW, Russian military had indeed blocked the road from Java to Tskhinvali in an effort to prevent further attacks there, and by August 14, researchers saw no more fires in this area; however, looting and burning of Georgian villages has continued in ethnic Georgian villages in Georgia's Gori district. On August 13, Major General Vyacheslav Borisov, the Russian commander in Georgia, was quoted as saying that "now Ossetians are running around and killing poor Georgians in their enclaves." Also on August 15, the Russia-allied president Eduard Kokoity of South Ossetia, in the interview for Kommersant, officially acknowledged that the alleged ethnic cleansing of South Ossetia was in fact committed against ethnic Georgians, saying that his forces "offered them a corridor and gave the peaceful population the chance to leave" and that the Ossetians "do not intend to allow" their return.

Russian (Novaya Gazeta) and British (The Sunday Times) journalists embedded with the Russian and Ossetian forces reported that irregulars are abusing and executing captured Georgian soldiers and suspected combatants captured during the "mopping-up operations" in South Ossetia and beyond.

On August 16, an AP (American news agency) reporter witnessed groups of Georgian forced laborers in Tskhinvali under armed guard of Ossetians and Russians; South Ossetia's interior minister Mikhail Mindzayev acknowledged this, saying that the Georgians "are cleaning up after themselves." The Independent reported that around 40 Georgian civilian captives, mostly elderly men, were "paraded" through the city and abused by South Ossetians. On August 18, South Ossetian leaders put the number of the hostages at more than 130, roughly half of them women and mostly former Georgian guest workers. The kidnapping of civilians by warring parties is a war crime according to the Article 3 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

On August 17, HRW appealed to Russian authorities to "immediately take steps to end Ossetian militia attacks on ethnic Georgians" in the Gori district of Georgia and for the Russian military to ensure safe passage for civilians wishing to leave the region and for humanitarian aid agencies to enter. The organization said hundreds of vulnerable civilians still in the area, including many elderly; they said they are afraid to leave after learning about militia attacks on those who fled. The UN, which has described the humanitarian situation in the Russian military-controlled Gori as "desperate," has been able to deliver only limited food supplies to the city.

Humanitarian response

Main article: Humanitarian response to the 2008 South Ossetia war

Reactions to the conflict

International reactions

Main article: International reaction to the 2008 South Ossetia war

See also: Protests regarding 2008 South Ossetia war

Russia faced strong criticism from western democracies especially the US where Vice President Dick Cheney stated "Russian aggression must not go unanswered, and that its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States, as well as the broader international community."

Financial market reaction

The effect of the war on the Russian financial markets was first noticed on the stock market benchmark index RTS which fell 6% by August 8, 2008 at 12:45 GMT in its lowest level (1,732.26) since May 2007, including blue chips such as Lukoil Holdings shares, and Russian analysts expect the fall to continue for some time but then to rise upwards again, recovering losses. The Russian ruble also fell by 1% relative to a basket of currencies.

The Georgian financial markets also suffered negative consequences as Fitch Ratings lowered Georgia's debt ratings from BB- to B+, commenting that there are increased risks to Georgian sovereign creditworthiness, while Standard and Poor's also lowered Georgian credit ratings.

Map of Baku-Supsa and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipelines through Georgia

While Georgia has no significant oil or gas reserves on its own, it is an important transit route that supplies the West, and journalists expressed fear that the war may damage the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, 30% of which is owned by BP. The BTC pipeline was shut down before the conflict because of the blast in Turkey on August 6, 2008, and the war created further problems for the operating company. Georgia claims Russia is targeting the pipeline. On August 8, 2008, Russian air forces devastated the port of Poti, which the Georgian government calls "a key port for the transportation of energy sources," close to the Baku-Supsa pipeline and the Supsa oil terminal. On August 12, 2008, BP, an operator of the main pipelines through Georgia, closed the BTC pipeline, the Baku-Supsa Pipeline and the South Caucasus Pipeline for the safety reasons. Gas supplies through the South Caucasus Pipeline were resumed on August 14, 2008.

The price of oil was not negatively affected by these events, on August 8, 2008 light sweet crude for September delivery settled down $4.82 to $115.20 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Allegations of media bias

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin accused foreign media of pro-Georgian bias in their coverage of the ongoing conflict between Georgia and Russia over breakaway South Ossetia. "We want television screens in the West to be showing not only Russian tanks, and texts saying Russia is at war in South Ossetia and with Georgia, but also to be showing the suffering of the Ossetian people, the murdered elderly people and children, the destroyed towns of South Ossetia, and Tskhinvali. This would be an objective way of presenting the material," he said in a statement to Russian news agencies. Current Western media coverage of the events in the separatist republic is "a politically motivated version" in the eyes of government officials. Other western media editors disagreed with this view, however, with the Washington Post arguing that Moscow was engaging in "mythmaking".

On August 11, 2008, the government-funded Russia Today TV channel accused CNN of presenting video footage made by Russia Today in South Ossetia as pictures of bombed Gori. The Western media has defended its coverage, with Chris Birkett, executive editor of Sky News saying: "I don't think there’s been a bias. Accusations of media bias are normal in times of war. We’ve been so busy with the task of newsgathering and deployment that the idea we've managed to come up with a conspiratorial line in our reporting is bananas." CNN has also defended its coverage.

William Dunbar, a reporter for Russia Today in Georgia, resigned in protest of bias in the Russian media. He claimed he had not been on air since he mentioned Russian bombing of targets inside Georgia. He told The Moscow Times: "The real news, the real facts of the matter, didn't conform to what they were trying to report, and therefore, they wouldn't let me report it. I felt that I had no choice but to resign." However one senior journalist from Russia Today called Dunbar's allegations of bias "nonsense". "The Russian coverage I have seen has been much better than much of the Western coverage,” he said, adding, "My view is that Russia Today is not particularly biased at all. When you look at the Western media, there is a lot of genuflection towards the powers that be. Russian news coverage is largely pro-Russia, but that is to be expected."

HRW called the Russian death toll figure of 2,000 unfounded, citing a doctor who said that between August 6 to 12 the hospital treated 273 wounded, more military than civilian. The doctor also said that 44 bodies had been brought to the hospital since the fighting began, both military and civilian. According to HRW, "the doctor was adamant that the majority of people killed in the city had been brought to the hospital before being buried".Anna Neistat, leader of a HRW team investigating the humanitarian damage in South Ossetia, told The Guardian that

HRW investigators had... recorded cases of Ossetian fighters burning and looting Georgian villages north of the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali. "The torching of houses in these villages is in some ways a result of the massive Russia propaganda machine which constantly repeats claims of genocide and exaggerates the scale of casualties... That is then used to justify retribution."

BBC News world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds filed a story on August 15 citing the reports of refugee Ossetians in Russia and a Human Rights Watch report describing much of the damage in Tskhinvali as due to Georgian fire in concluding that the the Georgian attack into South Ossetian on August 7 was being "played down" contrary to the "evidence". Reynolds called attention to what he considered exaggerated Georgian claims and the fact most of the western media is based in Georgia (the cause of this, as he writes, being Russia's reluctance to admit western media) is his story about how "mud" thrown in the "propaganda war" "stuck" to Russia: "the Bush administration appears to be trying to turn a failed military operation by Georgia into a successful diplomatic operation against Russia.

On August 17 the New York Times reported that while "Russian authorities have given Western journalists little or no access" to areas under its control, "Russian journalists are allowed to move around freely."

Cyberattacks and censorship

South Ossetian officials stated that two Ossetian news media sites were attacked. Dmitry Medoyev, the South Ossetian secessionist envoy in Moscow, claimed that Georgia was trying to cover up reports of deaths.

The National Bank of Georgia website was defaced and replaced with a gallery of 20th century dictators, with Saakashvili added. Georgian news portals were under Internet denial-of-service attacks and reportedly the site of the Georgian Ministry of Defense was attacked as well. The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs site was defaced and replaced with a collage of Saakashvili and Adolf Hitler photos. According to the The New York Times, Georgian websites crashed frequently on August 8.

Estonian media claimed that the attacks are similar in nature to the 2007 cyberattacks on Estonia and were carried out with the same techniques. Estonian authorities have pledged to provide Georgia assistance in cyber-warfare. Estonia has sent to Georgia two specialists in information security from the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) Estonia, and Georgia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website is currently hosted on Estonian server. The Office of the President of Poland has provided the website for dissemination of information and helped to get access to the Internet for Georgia's government after breakdowns of local servers caused by cyberattacks.

Georgia had stopped broadcasting Russian television channels across the country. Web sites hosted on domains with addresses ending in .ru “were briefly blocked” from Georgia. Some pro-Russian sites in other zones were also reported to be blocked. Both actions were taken due to Georgia's belief that Russia was conducting an information war.

RIA Novosti news agency's website was disabled for several hours on August 10 by a series of computer cracker attacks. "The DNS-servers and the site itself have been coming under severe attack," said Maxim Kuznetsov, head of the RIA Novosti IT department. On August 11, Russia Today TV stated: "In the course of the last 24 hours RT’s website (www.russiatoday.com) has endured numerous DDoS attacks, which have made it unavailable for some time. Channel’s security specialists say the initial attack was carried out from an IP-address registered in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

The Russian internet news source, Gazeta.ru, reported that the Fox News channel cut off an American-Ossetian girl, Amanda Kokoeva, after she stated that she was attacked by Georgian Forces and saved by the Russian Troops, although this accusation is not reflected in the full Fox News video. People accustomed to Fox programmes said that such commercial cut-offs are not out of order there. Fox News was also accused of censorship by TV Channel Russia Today which showed its own interview with Amanda [5] and earlier by several internet blogs and forums. The video also allegedly experienced multiple problems with the counters available on YouTube. The video rating and view count are not being updated and new comments are being deleted, according to some sources. Gazeta.ru stated, "... the counter was at 347,000. At midday the view count on YouTube, fell without any sort of explanation to 45,747." However the counter was seen being reset, and stopping at around 4000. As of August 16 the counter, seems to be up and running again. The reasons for the counter freezes remain unclear.

Combatants

See also: Military of Georgia and Military of Russia

Military equipment

Georgian, Russian and South Ossetian forces are equipped with predominantly Soviet-made weapons, in particular, Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft, T-55 and T-72 tanks, and AK-74 rifles; however, Georgia has recently also been acquiring some western-made weaponry, including the UH-1 Iroquois helicopters and M4 Carbine rifles from the United States, 152mm SpGH DANA self-propelled guns and RM-70 Multiple rocket launchers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Turkish Otokar Cobra armored vehicles, and German Heckler & Koch G36 and Israeli IMI Tavor TAR-21 rifles. Ukraine has supplied Georgia with many weapons, reportedly including AA missiles, APCs and small arms.

Georgian order of battle

• 1st Brigade - Re-deployed from Iraq to Georgia. It was deployed to defend the Capital from Russian troops.
• 2nd Brigade - Suffered heavy losses in the Battle of the Kodori Valley.
• 3rd Brigade - Supported 4th Brigade's advances on South Ossetia. Survived the battle relatively intact.
• 4th Brigade - Most powerful of Georgia's Brigades. Spearhead the attack onto South Ossetia. Suffered heavy looses in men and equipment.
• 5th Brigade - Kept in reserve, deployed in defensive position after Russian incursions into Gori

In the combat for Tskhinvali, Georgia reportedly committed several infantry battalions supported by 82 T-72 tanks and artillery. The Georgian Air Force has also been engaged in the conflict. Following the Russian response, Georgia recalled all 2,000 of its troops that had been stationed in Iraq. The troops and their equipment were transported by the United States Air Force using C-17 Globemaster aircraft. The Americans were training Georgia's forces to use the U.S. military's M-4 rifles. However, when fighting broke out the Georgians went back to the Soviet AK-47, the only weapon they trusted. They appeared incapable of firing single shots, letting off bursts of automatic fire, which is wildly inaccurate and wastes ammunition. The U.S. military training program has been interrupted and critically damaged by the war. The Georgian army has been dealt a harsh blow. While official statistics claim 180 fatalities, soldiers and civilians, the number of dead or missing soldiers is probably higher. According to an "Intelligence Briefing" published at an independent news website, the 1st and 2nd Brigade, the Independent Tank Battalion with headquarters at Gori and most of Georgia's front line artillery units are no longer combat capable.

Russian order of battle

South Ossetian Sector

• Unnamed units formerly used for peacekeeping
• At least two strengthened battalions of 19th Motor Rifle Division (North Ossetia) of 58th Army.
• Units of Airborne Troops (VDV)
  • Units of 76th Airborne Division (Pskov)
  • Units of 98th Airborne Division (Ivanovo)
• Units of GRU (direct or operational subordination)
  • Spetsnaz of 45th Detached Reconnaissance Regiment of VDV (Moscow)
  • One company of Special Battalion Vostok of 42nd Motor Rifle Division (Chechnya)
  • One company of Special Battalion Zapad of 42nd Motor Rifle Division (Chechnya)
• Army of South Ossetia

Abkhazian Sector

• Units of 131st Separate Motor-Rifle Brigade (formerly used for peacekeeping)
• Unnamed units of VDV
• Army (land and air forces) of Abkhazia
• Naval Task Force consisting of following units from the Black Sea Fleet
  • Slava Class Cruiser RFS Moskva
  • Kashin Class (Upgraded) Destroyer Smetlivy (Russian: Сметливый)
  • Alligator Class Landing Ships Saratov.
  • Ropucha-I Class Landing Ships Tsezar Kunikov and Yamal.
  • Grisha-V Anti-Submarine Corvettes Kasimov, Povarino and Suzdalets.
  • Nanuchka-III Class Corvette Mirazh.
  • Bora Class Missile Boat Samum
  • Moma Class Surveillance ship Ekvator.
  • Natya Class Minesweepers Zhukov and Turbinist.
  • Small Landing Ship Koida
  • Sorum Class Fleet Tug MB-31.

Air support

• Fighter, attack, bomber and reconnaissance aircrafts of 4th Air Army (acting over South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Georgia)
• Unnamed transport aviation units used for air-lift of units of 76th and 98th Airborne Divisions, Spetsnaz of 45th Detached Reconnaissance Regiment to South Ossetia and unnamed units of VDV to Abkhazia

Other

• Russian news services, notably RTR Planeta, have reported wide-scoped assembly of Ossetian Narodnoe Opolcheniye being joined by volunteers from the Vladikavkaz region and other parts of Russia. The groups being formed at "various locations" are reported to range from "tens" to "hundreds." The members of these groups as shown on video reports are identified by white armbands, but appear to be otherwise clothed and equipped predominantly in Russian Army issue camouflage clothing and firearms. One such group in the Northern Ossetia has been formed on the Staff of North Ossetia okrug Cossack Voisko (Russian: штаб североосетинского округа казачьего войска).

See also

• Immediate Response 2008
• Caucasus Frontier 2008
• Vaziani Military Base

External links

• Georgian Ministry of Defense - site may be down due to cyber attack
• Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs - site may be down due to cyber attack
• President of Georgia
• State Committee of Information and Press of the Republic of South Ossetia Template:En icon
• Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Template:Ru icon
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Template:Ru icon
• UNOMIG (United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia)
• News of August 18, 2008

Map resources

• Topographic maps of the region from Poyehali