Left: Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili speaks during a news conference in T'bilisi, Georgia, on Monday.Right: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev gestures at a joint news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the Kremlin in Moscow yesterday. - AP photos
TBILISI, Georgia ( LA Times):
Russia's president yesterday outlined his nation's demands for an end to hostilities in its five-day war against Georgia as Moscow appeared to slow an offensive meant to punish its much smaller pro-Western rival.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a close ally of Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, ordered a halt to his country's ongoing military action against Western-backed Georgia, although Russian forces and allies continued to bomb sites deep in the country and apparently continued to advance into Georgian territory through the afternoon.
"The operation that the reinforced Russian peacekeeping contingent carried out has been completed because the goal that we set ourselves has been achieved," Medvedev said, according to the Russian Interfax news service. "The aggressor has been punished, and its armed forces have been disorganised."
Peace talks
Medvedev, speaking after a closed-door meeting in Moscow with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said peace talks could commence provided Georgia agreed to return its troops to their original positions before the outbreak of hostilities over control of the breakaway pro-Russian enclave of South Ossetia, to sign a "legally binding document" vowing not to use force and to agree to talks about the future status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The two Russian-backed separatist regions are located within Georgia's internationally recognised borders.
"If Georgia is ready to sign everything that is said in these principles and withdraws its troops to the initial positions, the way toward the gradual normalisation of the situation in South Ossetia will be opened," Medvedev said at a news conference after his negotiations with Sarkozy, according to Interfax. "Now it is T'bilisi's turn to act."
Sarkozy flew to T'bilisi, the Georgian capital, from Moscow to cajole Georgia to accept Russia's terms. One Georgian analyst called the conditions humiliating because they did not mention maintaining the territorial integrity of his country but predicted the T'bilisi government would accept anyway.
"We have no other choice because no other country came to our aid," said Alexander Rondeli, president of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank. "These gangsters are leading the parade."
Medvedev said Russia's military also would return to its previous positions as a condition for peace talks. But despite the steps towards calm, the situation on the ground remained volatile. A Dutch television journalist was killed in a bombing overnight in the central Georgia city of Gori, news agencies reported. Stan Storimans, 39, became the third journalist killed in five days of fighting.
Remain vigilant
Earlier yesterday, Medvedev called on his armed forces to remain vigilant against any perceived Georgian provocations.
Russians have taken up positions deep inside undisputed Georgian territory, adding to the potential chaos. Russian bombers struck hills and villages around Gori, and fleeing residents reported that Russian soldiers had taken over government buildings in the transport hub.
The Associated Press reported a convoy of 135 Russian military vehicles were moving from Abkhazia towards positions held by Georgia in the western section of the mountainous nation.
Even if a temporary calm takes hold, securing a lasting peace may prove difficult. Russians have explicitly stated they want to see driven from power Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, a close ally of President Bush who sparked the latest escalation in the long-simmering conflict.
Moscow says Saakashvili's decision to try to retake South Ossetia last Friday by force cost the lives of thousands of Russian passport holders as well as some Russian peacekeepers stationed in the province.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters yesterday that Moscow rejects the US-educated Georgian as a partner in peace discussions.
"I don't think Moscow will be in the mood not only to hold talks, but even to speak to Saakashvili," Lavrov said at a news conference after talks with his Finnish counterpart, Alexander Stubb, according to Interfax. "He has committed crimes against our citizens. Our position is that Mr Saakashvili can no longer be our partner. He'd better quit."
Popularity
But analysts in T'bilisi said the Russian offensive had rallied even Saakashvili's opponents around him, giving him a temporary boost in popularity that will probably fade in the coming weeks. In Tbilisi yesterday, thousands of demonstrators holding white and red Georgian flags took to the streets, honking their horns and cheering defiant speeches by government officials and supporters, including Saakashvili.
"Georgia! Georgia!" they chanted.
Broad geopolitical issues underlie the conflict between Russia and Georgia, which is ostensibly over control of two economically listless and sparsely populated enclaves with little strategic value.
The staunchly pro-Western former Soviet republic of Georgia, which has allied itself with the United States, Western Europe and Israel, has defied an increasingly rich and powerful Russia, which is opposed to Washington's growing influence in what has long been its strategic backyard.
US officials
Top US officials, including Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Republican presidential contender Senator John McCain of Arizona, have visited Georgia's US-educated president in recent months. Bush has forcefully objected to Russia's military moves as disproportionate to the perceived Georgian infraction.
Today, presumed Democratic Party presidential nominee Barack Obama, currently on vacation in Hawaii, released a statement calling on Moscow to deflate the conflict.
"It is past time for the Russian government to immediately sign and implement a ceasefire," the Illinois senator's statement said. "Russia must halt its violation of Georgian airspace and withdraw its ground forces from Georgia, with international monitors to verify that these obligations are met."
Ludmila Bigayeva-Kinkadze, an ethnic Ossetian woman married to a Georgian man, condemns the Russian-Georgian conflict at a rally near Vladikavkaz, the main city of North Ossetia, Russia, yesterday. The rally was a response to threats received by ethnic Georgians in the ethnically mixed village of Verkhnyaya Balta outside Vladikavkaz.
