Medvedev tells Bush Russia aims to force Georgia to accept peace

08.0.08
MOSCOW, August 9 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian president told his U.S.
counterpart on Saturday that Russia's ongoing military operation in
Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia is aimed at forcing
Georgia to accept peace.
Bush's phone conversation with Dmitry Medvedev came after the U.S.
leader called on Russia to stop bombing targets in Georgia, and voiced
concern over the escalating violence.
Medvedev was quoted by the Kremlin as telling Bush: "Acting within our
peacekeeping mission, and in line with the mandate issued by the
international community, Russia is engaged in the task of forcing the
Georgian side to accept peace, while defending the lives and property
of its citizens, as is required under the Constitution and laws of the
Russian Federation, and the legal standards of any civilized country.
Georgia, the main U.S. ally in the Caucasus Region, launched a major
ground and air offensive to seize control of South Ossetia on Friday,
prompting Russia to send in tanks and hundreds of troops. Georgia
imposed martial law on Saturday after Russian warplanes began
bombarding military bases.
Russia says 12 of its servicemen have been killed in the violence, and
2,000 civilians in South Ossetia have lost their lives. Around 30,000
refugees have flooded across the border into Russia to escape the
violence since Friday morning.
A senior Russian diplomat said on Saturday that the country may ask the
International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights
to investigate war crimes committed by Georgia.
"I do not rule out that the Hague and Strasbourg courts and
institutions in other cities will be involved in investigating these
crimes, and this inhuman drama that has been played out," Deputy
Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told news agencies in an interview
broadcast on the Vesti-24 TV channel.
Russian peacekeepers "were killed by their own [Georgian] partners in the peacekeeping forces," he said.
"There is a Russian battalion, an Ossetian battalion, and a Georgian
battalion... and all of a sudden the Georgians, Georgian peacekeepers,
begin shooting their Russian colleagues. This is of course a war
crime," Karasin said.
The ongoing conflict is the most severe since South Ossetia fought its
way to independence from Georgia in 1992. The majority of the local
population have Russian citizenship.
Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said earlier that
Russian combat aircraft had bombed several Georgian military bases, one
near the capital Tbilisi, as well as the Black Sea port city of Poti.
Georgian media also reported airstrikes on the city of Gori, and said several civilians had been killed.
However, Russian Deputy Air Force Commander Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn denied that warplanes had struck non-military targets.
"We are not fighting peaceful towns, and are not conducting military
strikes against civilians. We are only seeking to ensure peace," he
said.
Georgia says it has shot down a total of 10 Russian combat aircraft, while Russia says it has lost two planes.
The Russian government has warned that a humanitarian disaster is
developing as South Ossetians, many of them injured, flee across the
border into Russia.

https://en.rian.
ru/russia/20080809/115925621.html
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and this one from July 2008:

VAZIANI,
Georgia - One thousand U.S. troops began a military training exercise
in Georgia on Tuesday against a backdrop of growing friction between
Georgia and neighboring Russia.

Officials
said the exercise, called "Immediate Response 2008," had been planned
for months and was not linked to a stand-off between Moscow and Tbilisi
over two Russian-backed separatists regions of Georgia.

The United States is an ally of Georgia and has irritated Russia by backing Tbilisi's bid to join the NATO military alliance.

"The
main purpose of these exercises is to increase the cooperation and
partnership between U.S. and Georgian forces," Brig. Gen. William B.
Garrett, commander of the U.S. military's Southern European Task Force,
told reporters.

The war games involve 600 Georgian troops and smaller numbers from ex-Soviet Armenia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine.

The
two-week exercise was taking place at the Vaziani military base near
the capital Tbilisi, which was a Russian air force base until Russian
forces withdrew at the start of this decade under a European arms
reduction agreement.

Close cooperation
Georgia
and the Pentagon cooperate closely. Georgia has a 2,000-strong
contingent supporting the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, and Washington
provides training and equipment to the Georgian military.

Georgia
last week recalled its ambassador in Moscow in protest at Russia
sending fighter jets into Georgian airspace. Tbilisi urged the West to
condemn Russia's actions.

Russia
said the flights were to prevent Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili
from launching a military operation against the separatist South
Ossetia region.

Moscow
accuses Saakashvili of preparing to restore Tbilisi's control over
South Ossetia and the second breakaway region of Abkhazia by force.
Tbilisi says that is a pretext for Russia to effectively annex large
chunks of Georgian territory.

https://www.msnbc.

msn.com/id/25684774/