Russia Rejects Cease-Fire With Georgia

Diplomatic Standoff Continues At U.N. As Fighting Rages In South Ossetia

(CBS/AP)  Russia refused to agree to a cease-fire or a diplomatic agreement Saturday, ensuring that the fighting with Georgia would keep spilling over to other regions such as Abkhazia's Kodori Ridge, where 15 U.N. military observers were told to evacuate.

"A cease-fire would not be a solution. The fighting is still going on. The Georgian forces are continuing to be on the South Ossetian territory," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said. "All those actions and signals we have seen are not things which would not be conducive to a cease-fire."

As the fighting over the breakaway region of South Ossetia spread, the diplomatic standoff continued Saturday in the United Nations Security Council, which met for the third time since late Thursday night to try to help resolve the situation.

Negotiations were intense as the council dynamics mainly pitted Russia against the other 14 council members led by the United States, an ally of Georgia, who were pressing for a cease-fire that respects Georgia's sovereignty, diplomats said. Russia, the U.S., Britain, France and China are the five nations with council veto power.

At the core of this conflict is Russian mistrust of Georgia's western leanings and its desire to join NATO, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips.

"This conflict is expanding, this conflict is escalating," U.S. Deputy Ambassador Alejandro Wolff told reporters.

Churkin also said "the fighting is spreading" and thousands were killed since Georgia launched a major military offensive to maintain control of South Ossetia, a separatist area of Georgia, and then Russian troops and tanks rumbled in.

"The Georgian forces must pull out of South Ossetia," he said. "And then they must accept the need to sign an agreement on nonuse of force with South Ossetians."

Many of the council members who met in private chambers appealed for an immediate cease-fire and "expressed grave concern on the further deterioration of the situation," said Belgian Ambassador Jan Grauls, the council president this month. "And it is clear that the conflict has now expanded to other areas of Georgia than only South Ossetia."

Georgia is not a member, but its ambassador has attended some of the council meetings over the past three days.

Despite diminishing hopes, the council plans to keep trying for an agreement in the form of a unanimous public statement.

"Regrettably, I have come to the conclusion it will be very difficult if not impossible to find common ground in the council on a draft statement to the press," Grauls said.

After his closed-door briefing to the council, Edmond Mulet, assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, said the U.N. was immediately pulling out the military observers in Kodori on advice from Abkhazia, where a military offensive was imminent.

The northern part of the gorge is the only area of northern Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia republic that has remained under Georgian government control.

The U.N. observers patrolled Kodori due to bloodshed between Georgia and Abkhazia in the early 1990s after the Soviet Union collapsed.

Russia, which backs the Abkhazia separatists, insists Georgian troops must withdraw from Kodori. Russia warns the U.S.-allied Georgia's moves toward joining NATO bolster the separatists in Abhkazia and South Ossetia.

"At this point we are particularly concerned that the conflict appears to be spreading beyond South Ossetia into Abkhazia," Mulet said, adding that Abkhazia had warned of preparations for "a military operation in the Upper Kodori Valley, probably tomorrow morning."

[libsluv2spit]

this is the time when we sit back and watch these UNITED ''they cant go wrong so we emulate thier ways'' europeans DIPLOMATICALLY solve thier problems..


my money is on the UN fu cking this up in biblical proporations..

[gunnerr87]

well i think that the georgian president should ask for help ..hell he sent some of his own troops over to irag to help out us ( american troops) so why shouldn''t we help them..who cares if russia has nuclear bombs...i mean come on they think that should stop americans from helping out the georgian ppl...ok so what russia has oil well umm so does middle east countries..then the media has the balls to say that we should boycott the next olypics in russia...what the hell would that do. i think that we should help out the georgian ppl..cause if we don''t then this whole thing could get worse then what it already is..

[expatriate07]

I wish I knew what the f--- was going on. But you really can''t trust the news these days and I''m not over there. So all that I can say is, if there is a god, may he have mercy.

[Yxzr]

No matter what we can count on 2 things to happen. Europe will run and hide, and the liberal socialist sheeples will find some idiotic way to blame this on America.

[thegoodtexan]

You guys are so spot on. It is nice to see that not everybody is fallowing the mindless propaganda coming out of Washington. Saakashvila has committed terrible crimes against humanity and must be made to pay for what he has done. The thousands of innocent lives he has taken can only be compensated for by his trial as a war criminal, and his vicious destruction of property should be paid for by Georgia%u2019s oil revenue. His capture and conviction will send a strong signal to George Bush, you are next.

[intheshade-2009]

Georgian army pulls out? This sounds like more media misinformation, or as Hillary Clinton says misspeak. Georgia did not pull their forces back. They only moved one brigade of heavy artillery from Ossetia to the Abkhazia border. The real news is coming from international sources. God bless the internet.

[jgunther7]

The Russians should not stop until they have captured Saakashvila and put him on trial. The Russian people are fired up and want vengeance. For the most part, US objectors dont understand what is going on and are only voicing opinions they picked up from reading the National Inquirer.

[samsel3]

BERLIN (Reuters) - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Russia intends to take over his country to secure energy supply routes from central Asia and to begin ridding the region of democracies.

"They want the whole of Georgia," Saakashvili said in an interview on Sunday with Germany''''s Rhein-Zeitung newspaper.

"The Russians need control over energy routes from central Asia and the Caspian Sea," he said in the interview to be published in the paper''s Monday edition.

[samsel3]

Russia is the agressor in this action. They want regime change of Georgia and control over south ossetia where the pipelines pass through. The Russian''''s are looking after their own interests and will not be co-erced.

South Ossetia is a province of Georgia. The BTC oil& gas pipelines go through this province.
The Russian economy is built on oil & natural gas.

This is about protection and control of oil & gas pipelines from the Caspian Sea to the seaport in Ceyran, Turkey.

The source of the oil is the BTC pipeline from the Caspian Sea Region. Shareholders in the BTC pipeline are: British Petroleum, AzBTC, Chevron, Statoil, TPAO, ENI, Total, Itochu, INPEX, ConocoPhillips & Amerada Hess. The US armed Georgia.

[edintex]

I''d like to know what Americans would do if a couple of thousand of their citizens were massacred...Posted by Xenia-Moscow

Those South Osessians were Georgian citizens before the Russians decided to give them citizenship within the past few years. That would be like Mexico giving everybody in the lower Texas valley citizenship & then invading Texas to support their "citizens".

Before everybody gets real teary eyed for the wonderful Russians "protecting" their citizens just remember that they (the russian citizens), with the direction of their GREAT LEADER Stalin, killed tens of millions of their own "citizens" within this living generation. They still worship the ****** Stalins body! If you were to add up all of the deaths caused by Americans in every war ever fought, it would not even be 10% of what the Russians did to their own "citizens" before & after WWII.

So lets all believe the sincerety of the Russians now & how they want to protect its "citizens". Maybe Bush should "stay out of Russias business", as Putin said so that they can kill millions more. We know they are capable.

[summarex]

Oh
So now they are having demonstrations in Tblisi! I saw the video. Shouldn''t those protesters be in uniform?

[andylance1]

Be aware of Vladimir the Impaler!

The Russians are coming
The Russians are coming
The Cold War has begun again.

Yesterday - Chechnya
Today - Georgia
Tomorrow - Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, etc. etc.

[smurfcrusher]

"They should have known better, starting a war in the region." posted by Xenia-Moscow


I don''t know what your state-controlled media is telling you, but it apparently wasn''t that Russia has been pushing Georgia for weeks - even bombing a couple weeks ago.

All officially denied by Russia - even though video in Georgian aircraft shows it is true.

The problem with Russia is that for some, they have a culture of lies and brutality, without regard for human rights.

Perhaps they don''t realize what they sacrifice by this approach.

[smurfcrusher]

Georgia would have been far better off under Turkey! Are you kidding me?

[xenia-moscow]

Georgians know very well that if it were not for Russia that protected their land and fought their wars for them, they would have been swallowed up by Turkey 200 years ago. They have never known how to fight, and presently their troops have been trained by the same group of US generals who trained Bosnians.
The majority of residents of South Ossetia are Russian Federation citizens. I''d like to know what Americans would do if a couple of thousand of their citizens were massacred, even outside US borders. I think we would see a full-scale military operation. Russia has the same right to do everything to protect its people, even if it involes bombing Georgian military bases. They should have known better, starting a war in the region.

[tbweb]

Let me get this straight. George %u201CWhat Me Worry%u201D Bush says Russia should not expand their involvement beyond Tskhinvali. He feels that they must stay put in Tskhinvali while Georgia marshals their forces from all over Georgia and attack them as sitting ducks. He feels that if they attack the Georgian Air Force bases that are attacking the Russian people in Ossetia, they are expanding operations beyond the area of conflict. Basically they should allow themselves to be attacked and should not be allowed to strike back. While Bush has never been known for his intellectual prowess, he has apparently been able to articulate this statement without anybody helping him.

Posted by InTheShade at 06:16 AM : Aug 10, 2008,,,

Russia crossed every line in this conflict, normally a nation will supply and arm those it supports and give strong assistance without jumping in with both feet itself! This should be an eye opener for the EU too, increasing dependent on the Russian natural gas pipeline! In the event of a serious conflict Russia will disrupt services and may make political moves during times when the EU can afford to have those services disrupted most! The EU should bite the bullet and create other energy alternatives, the political realities of relying on Russia for energy are a fantasy!

[intheshade-2009]

Let me get this straight. George %u201CWhat Me Worry%u201D Bush says Russia should not expand their involvement beyond Tskhinvali. He feels that they must stay put in Tskhinvali while Georgia marshals their forces from all over Georgia and attack them as sitting ducks. He feels that if they attack the Georgian Air Force bases that are attacking the Russian people in Ossetia, they are expanding operations beyond the area of conflict. Basically they should allow themselves to be attacked and should not be allowed to strike back. While Bush has never been known for his intellectual prowess, he has apparently been able to articulate this statement without anybody helping him.

[mr2258]

Time will tell.

[tbweb]

Russia`s out of proportion aggression violating the territorial integrity in the sovereign nation of Georgia goes beyond trying to protect Russian citizens! This is a `statement making` aggression designed to punish and embarrass Georgia and make an example out of other nations wanting to join NATO! Targeting the strategic oil pipeline and putting a naval blockade in place turning back Georgian ships carrying grain suggests other sinister wider motives by Moscow. In possible future encounters with Russia the world should do its homework and take good notes and be prepared for other Russian disproportionate responses and have disproportionate responses ready of its own!

[thegoodtexan]

mr2258 says if Russia is smart they will back off. Russia is smart, which means they will not back off.