EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - Georgia Withdraws Troops from Tskhinvali, Puts Government on War Footing

EURASIA INSIGHT

GEORGIA WITHDRAWS TROOPS FROM TSKHINVALI, PUTS GOVERNMENT ON WAR FOOTING
By Elizabeth Owen 8/09/08

After a day of fierce fighting and fresh bombing raids, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has ordered Georgian troops to withdraw from the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, and to observe a unilateral cease-fire. To cope with the worsening situation, parliament has confirmed a presidential order to keep the government working around the clock. Meanwhile, reports have surfaced that US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza may be headed to Georgia to try and broker a resolution to the crisis.

A morning bombing of several civilian targets in the Georgian town of Gori that left 55 people dead set the pattern for the second day of armed hostilities between the two states.

In addition to earlier strikes, Georgian officials reported on August 9 that Russian planes have targeted railway stations, a civilian airport near the central Georgian town of Kutaisi and an administrative building in the Upper Kodori Gorge, a section of the breakaway region of Abkhazia controlled by the central government.

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The violence set a backdrop to what appears to be a deteriorating situation in Tskhinvali. Russia's defense ministry on August 9 claimed to have taken control of the town; it estimated casualties at 1,500 and claimed that tens of thousands of civilians have fled the region.

In an August 9 conference call, Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaia told reporters that Georgian President Saakashvili had called for Georgian troops to withdraw from the town in a bid - the second since August 8 - to establish a cease-fire.

"I confirm that the president ordered the Georgian armed forces to pull out of Tskhinvali itself as a sign of seeking a truce with the Russian forces," Lomaia. "So the troops have been positioned in the nearby territories of Tskhinvali and they have also been ordered not to respond to Russian shelling to the extent possible. That's the situation on the ground right now."

The decision was taken, he said, "to stop violence on . . Georgian soil , to stop [the] Russian aggression and to get back to the internationally moderated talks with the Russian Federation about how would we get out of this . . .situation Russia has imposed on us."

An active cease-fire, however, does not exist in the region, he added. "It's not always possible not to respond to fierce artillery shelling and gunfire launched by the Russians," he stated.

Lomaia stated that there had been "heavy fighting on the ground in Tskhinvali with Russian paratroopers who were deployed in the region last night." The National Security Council chief put Russian troop presence in South Ossetia at between 2,000 to 2,500 troops - at least a twofold increase from August 9 morning estimates, he said.

In response, Georgian forces have allegedly destroyed "as many as 30 Russian tanks and armored vehicles," and shot down ten Russian fighter planes since full-scale fighting began on August 8. One Russian pilot has been captured and taken to a hospital, Lomaia said.

The struggle has taken its toll on Georgia's far smaller armed forces. Lomaia claimed that 40 armed forces personnel have been killed, and 87 have been wounded. While cautioning that the numbers were preliminary, he put the day's expected potential losses at "within 100."

Part of Georgia's own air force "has been destroyed," he acknowledged, without elaboration.

[National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaia is a former director of the Open Society Georgia Foundation in Tbilisi. EurasiaNet.org operates under the auspices of the Open Society Institute-New York, which is also part of the Soros Foundations network.]

Several hundred civilians -- a number far shy of the mass exodus cited by Russian officials -- have fled the conflict zone for Georgian cities such as Tbilisi and Gori, or, north, to Russia, he added.

Echoing charges by other Georgian officials, Lomaia singled out "de facto President Vladimir Putin," Russia's hawkish prime minister who served as president from 2000 to 2008, as the driving force behind Russia's actions in South Ossetia. To date, no direct conversation has taken place between President Saakashvili and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about the conflict, he stated.

To counter the onslaught, Georgian expectations are growing for the international community to take a more active role in brokering a peace.

"I would expect that world leaders would put the pressure on Russia to stop the aggression immediately," Lomaia said. "Particularly since President Saakashvili has announced that Georgia is ready to stop responding to the Russian action."

Amidst bitter differences between Georgia and Russia over charges of alleged ethnic cleansing by Russian troops in South Ossetia, the United Nations Security Council continues to discuss a potential cease-fire appeal.

Some form of pressure on Russia has already begun, however. In remarks to reporters in Beijing, US President George W. Bush said that the bombing attacks "mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis" and urged Moscow to withdraw its forces and respect Georgia's territorial integrity.

An official at the US embassy in Tbilisi stated that media reports that US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza will travel shortly to Georgia are "probably true," but noted that details remain undetermined.

Meanwhile, Georgia apparently also sees a role for the international community in bolstering its own fighting force. "I don't rule out the possibility of our appealing to the international community for direct military assistance," Lomaia stated, citing a proposal by US presidential candidate Senator John McCain that the North Atlantic Council, the governing body of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, "review measures NATO can take to contribute to stabilizing this very dangerous situation."

Lomaia, however, did not elaborate about reports that Georgia has also begun preparations to withdraw an undefined number of its 2,000 troops in Iraq to assist with operations against Russian and separatist forces in South Ossetia.

"We've been thinking about this," he said, without further details.

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