WASHINGTON, Aug, 14. 2008
Georgia: Russia Controls A Third Of Nation
President Says Russian Tanks Moving Deeper Into Georgia; Rice Pushes For Truce
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Play CBS Video Video A New Cold War? Harry Smith speaks with chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan about escalating worldwide diplomatic tensions, as Russian tanks and troops remain in Georgia.
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Video Russia-Georgia Crisis Grows Russian troops are still in neighboring Georgia despite a fragile ceasefire between the two nations. As Mark Phillips reports, a humanitarian crisis is looming in the region.
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Video Russia Rejects Plan To Recede Russia and Georgia had agreed to withdraw to their positions before the fighting started. But Russian forces rolled forward, sparking concerns for Georgia's capital. Mark Phillips reports.
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Russian tanks on the outskirts of Gori, northwest of capital Tbilisi, Georgia, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008. Georgia early Thursday said the Russians were leaving Gori, but later alleged they were bringing in additional troops. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
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Russian soldiers point their guns toward Georgian troops on the outskirts of Gori, northwest of capital Tbilisi, Georgia, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
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A South Ossetian man looks at a destroyed OSCE observer's car in downtown Tskhinvali, capital of the separatist Georgian region, Aug. 13, 2008, where Russian and Georgian forces fought a brutal five-day battle. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev)
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A Russian military convoy is seen outside Gori, Georgia, Aug. 13, 2008. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
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Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili (AP Photo/Shakh Aivazov)
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Interactive Russia Rolls Into Georgia Troops thrust deep into country after Georgia's attempt to reclaim South Ossetia.
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Timeline Georgia-Russia Dispute Key events in the complex conflict between Russia and Georgia.
Mikhail Saakashvili, speaking to foreign reporters in the capital in an appeal for international help, said the convoy was about halfway between the western cities of Senaki and Kutaisi.
"We have no idea what they're doing," Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said of the Russian column. "One explanation could be they are trying to rattle the civilian population."
There was no immediate response from Russia to the claims. Both sides have made conflicting statements since fighting broke out Aug. 7, when Georgia sought to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia.
According to two defense officials, the latest Pentagon information does not show any major movement by Russian troops or tanks Thursday. The officials said that if tanks are moving toward Kutaisi, the Russian troops might be headed to South Ossetia where they're supposed to be going.
The developments came on a day that Russian troops searched selected cities, forests and fields in Georgia looking for military equipment abandoned by Georgian forces during the week-old war. And Russia's foreign minister declared Georgia could "forget about" regaining two separatist provinces.
In Washington, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he saw no need to invoke American military force in the war between Russia and Georgia but warned that U.S.-Russian relations could suffer lasting damage if Moscow doesn't retreat.
"The United States spent 45 years working very hard to avoid a military confrontation with Russia," said Gates. "I see no reason to change that approach today."
Gates was adamant that sending U.S. troops is not an option, but the U.S. already had a number of its most elite Special Operations Forces on the ground in Georgia, assisting and training the Georgian army, reports CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan.
That would put them in position to advise the Georgians in the current crisis, military and intelligence sources told CBS News.
Thursday's events presented a huge challenge to the EU-sponsored cease-fire agreement designed to end seven days of fighting that began after Georgia tried to regain control of South Ossetia. The accord had envisioned Russian and Georgian forces returning to their original positions.
"One can forget about any talk about Georgia's territorial integrity because, I believe, it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters as Russia's president met in the Kremlin with the two separatist leaders. The comments and meeting were a clear sign that Moscow is considering the enclaves.
The Bush administration said it will ignore the "bluster" from Russia about the separatist regions. However, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice headed to Georgia to ask the U.S. ally to sign a cease-fire agreement with Russia that includes apparent concessions to Moscow but preserves Georgian borders, a U.S. official said.
The pact fleshes out a French-brokered agreement giving Russian peacekeepers the express right to patrol beyond South Ossetia, the disputed border region at the heart of the conflict.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the pact is not finalized, said there are important clarifications still to be made and the U.S. would support more powers for the Russian peacekeepers only if they were limited, well defined and temporary.
(AP/ESRI)
Still, analysts said there were holes in the EU plan to end the war between Georgia and Russia.
Robert Hunter, former ambassador to NATO under President Clinton, said the EU plan has halted much of the fighting but hardly commits the Russians to much.
"As it stands, this proposal leaves the Russians in total control," he told the AP in New York. "There is nothing in here about the inviolability of Georgia's frontiers," which he said lets Russia move forward on absorbing the separatist regions.
The war has raised concerns among other former Soviet bloc nations. On Thursday, Poland and the United States reached an agreement that will see a battery of American missiles established inside Poland.
"Poland and the Poles do not want to be in alliances in which assistance comes at some point later - it is no good when assistance comes to dead people. Poland wants to be in alliances where assistance comes in the very first hours of - knock on wood - any possible conflict," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
Relief planes swooped into the Georgian capital of Tbilisi with tons of supplies for the estimated 100,000 people uprooted by the fighting. U.S. officials said the two planes carried cots, blankets, medicine and surgical supplies - but the Russians insinuated that the U.S. might have sent military aid as well.
Russia's deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said he wasn't sure that the U.S. planes carried only humanitarian cargo. "It causes our concern," he said.
U.S. officials rejected the claim.
Georgia, bordering the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Russia has distributed passports to most in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and stationed troops they call peacekeepers there since the early 1990s.
Georgia's Interior Ministry accused Russia of using Iskander short-range missiles on the Black Sea port of Poti and in the central city of Gori. Ministry official Shota Utiashvili showed reporters images of what he said were shrapnel and remains of the missiles.
Russian troops and Georgian troops briefly patrolled Gori together Thursday before relations between the sides broke down and the Georgians left. At least 20 explosions were heard later near Gori, along with small-arms fire. It was not clear whether it was renewed fighting or the disposal of ordnance from a Georgian military base.
Gori, battered by Russian bombing before Tuesday's cease-fire, lies on Georgia's main east-west road only 60 miles west of Tbilisi.
Terrified Georgians had to flee their village near Gori on foot, they said, because rampaging militias from South Ossetia are burning homes and farms, killing people and livestock, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips.
Earlier, at a checkpoint outside Gori, Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said Georgian engineers and special forces were searching for Russian mines. "We are cleaning roads because we have information that there are some mines," he told AP.
A Russian envoy denied that any roads around Gori were mined.
AP television footage showed Russian troops inside and outside Gori, with plumes of black smoke rising from behind a forest.
Nogovitsyn said Russian troops went into Gori to establish contact with its civilian administration and to take control over military depots abandoned by the Georgian forces. "The abandoned weapons needed protection," he said.
Danish journalists said drunken South Ossetia militiamen fired shots into the ground before them and a UNHCR representative Thursday as Russian tanks blocked them from entering Gori. One journalist's television camera was seized.
In Vienna, Victor Dolidze, Georgia's ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said Russian troops were looting the Georgian military base in Senaki, as well Poti.
The Russian envoy to the OSCE, Vladimir Voronkov, strongly denied Dolidze's other claim, that Russian troops had laid mines in Gori and may be doing the same in Senaki and Poti.
An AP Television News crew heard explosions Thursday at a military base in Senaki and were told by officials from both sides that the Russians were destroying ordnance. Dozens of Russian armored vehicles and troops later set up for the night on the main road from Senaki north to Zugdidi.
Russian troops operated with confidence Thursday in and around Poti, the site of Georgia's key oil terminal. Georgia's coast guard said Russian troops burned four Georgian patrol boats in Poti on Wednesday, then returned Thursday to loot and destroy the coast guard's radar and other equipment.
Georgian port authorities told an AP television crew in Poti that Russian troops were at the Poti docks early Thursday and APTN saw a destroyed Georgian military boat about 60 feet long.
The same APTN crew followed Russian troops on the outskirts of Poti as they searched a field and a forest at an old Soviet military base for possible Georgian military equipment.
Nogovitsyn would not comment on the Russian presence in Poti, saying only that Russian forces were operating within their "area of responsibility." He also shrugged off as "nonsense" Ukraine's order restricting Russia's navy from moving freely in Ukraine's Black Sea waters.
Another APTN camera crew saw Russian soldiers and military vehicles parked Thursday inside the Georgian government's elegant gated residence in the western town of Zugdidi. Some of the Russian soldiers wore blue peacekeeping helmets, others wore green camouflage helmets, all were heavily armed. Other Russian troops patrolled the city.
"The Russian troops are here. They are occupying," Ygor Gegenava, an elderly Zugdidi resident told the APTN crew. "We don't want them here. What we need is friendship and good relations with the Russian people."
The United Nations estimates 100,000 people have been uprooted by the fighting, including 12,000 South Ossetians who fled north into Russia.
In Tbilisi, displaced Georgians set up tents at a makeshift refugee camp, hanging washing on lines and rolling out mattresses and bedding.
"We have no beds, six of us are sleeping on the floor. We don't have anything left," a Georgian woman named Manana told an APTN crew. She would not give her last name, fearing reprisals.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More From World
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 766 CommentsPosted by toldyouso12 at 09:36 PM : Aug 15, 2008
The poles arent afraid of the Russians anymore. They are part of NATO, the "light" side. If the "dark" side tries the same in Poland as they did in Georgia, they will have more than the US to deal with.
As far back as history goes, Russia has always been the souce of blood thirsty murderers. They even killed tens of million of their own people before and after WWII. THAT is what NATO will protect NATO members from...COMRADE!!!
.............
Consider this, the volume of troop surge into Georgia was large, fast, and effective. Military ops like this do not happen at the spur of the moment, it requires planning which takes months. They had to cross mountain ranges to get there. This had to have been tactically pre-planned by the Russians, to say otherwise IMO would be nieve. Poland saw this, possibly saw this coming and they said oh @#*%! You can''''t blame them for wanting defenses against what seems to some(and not just in this country) to be a reconstitution of the Soviet Union. Ukraine is probably @#%*ing too. These countries are asking for western support for they inherently do not want return to being ruled by communism/authortarianism. They have experienced being ruled under the thumb and have had the taste of freedom. It''''s not just the US''''s problem or intrest to resolve this potentially volitile/unstable situation. People say Reagan negotiated with the Russians, he did so with showing of military force of Nato(had missle pointed at them).
.............
as I said in another post...They kinda had their backs against the wall. Putin is a KGB man, an old style hardliner, be wary. Instability in this region poses a major threat to these former republics of the USSR......aside from all of this IMO I do not believe the Mr.Obama has the foreign policy experience or the cojonas to stand up to things like this. I do believe there are 2 sides to every story and to make the best decision WE all need to know both to make an educated, wise decision which requires thought and not just name calling. Your take? Sane or reasonable responces only.
Poland take heed--because what you see in Georgia is a prelude to what might happen if you try to accomodate those missile defense system. If a chance of retaliation is "100%" what does that mean? Prepare for an azz whuppin'''' that''''s what. And we''''ll stand behind Poland too--FAR behind. Like somewhere in Western Europe.
Russians will KILL you all there, and american nation will finally loose all it''s idiots and start a normal life in peace.
The Russians are the second largest supplier of gas & oil on the planet.
This pipeline was constructed to circumvent Russian pipelines supplying Europe giving the US Brits et al the lions share of the market.
Taking out Iraq also took a major source of oil away from Russia.
The Russians are now evening the score.
the 1993 World Trade Center bombing,,, inside job
the 1995 bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed five U.S. military personnel,,, inside job
the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 and injured 200 U.S. military personnel,,, inside job
the 1998 bombing of U.S . embassies in Africa, which killed 224 and injured 5,000,,, inside job
the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 and injured 39 U.S. sailors,,, inside job
talk is no substitute for action,,,
kkklowntoon just gave us the same old tired speech and did nothing else,,,
"We will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to find those who killed our sailors and hold them accountable."
yahhh right
In a moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing. Theodore Roosevelt
did not tim kaine tell the world that HUSSEIN has ended the war between georgia and russia,,,
Video - Tim Kaine: Obama Ended The War Between Georgia and Russia
http://beltwayblips.com/video/tim_kaine_obama_ended_the_war_between_georgia_and/
Tim Kaine: Barack Obama Solved The Crisis In Georgia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w43m6vQrEYw
And there''s Johnny! Pushing Diick & Dubya to get us invovled in yet another war we can''t afford and don''t have troops to fight.
Gotta love this one -- and right before the conventions, too!
to try to persuade it''s leadership to agree
to a deal that EXPANDS "say what?",,,"EXPANDS"
"you mean like ENLARGES?",,yes, EXPANDS THE
RUSSIAN MANDATE of RUSSIAN TROOPS,,, "please
dont say it! I dont want to hear it!",,,,
ON GEORGIAN TERRITORY,,,
"I think I''m going to be sick."
Tensions between Georgia and Russia were strained over the Pankisi Gorge, a lawless region of Georgia that Russia said had become a haven for Islamic militants and Chechen rebels.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107564.html
GET SOME RUSKIES,,, GET SOME,,,
NEVER FORGET THE RAPES OF BESLAN GIRLS!
Terror at Beslan
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1316935651894423094
RAPES IN BESLAN: IN MUHAMMAD%u2019S FOOTSTEPS
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST091304.html
Forget Not the Children of Beslan
http://kenlydell.typepad.com/islamic_evil/forget_not_the_children_of_beslan/index.html
Religion of Peace??? More like a cult of death.
http://www.terrorists-suck.org/why_suck/beslan.html
Radical Islamists must be stopped:
comments on the Beslan child slaughter.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/list.htm
Rapes in Beslan: in Muhammed''s Footsteps
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1214617/posts
Tensions between Georgia and Russia were strained over the Pankisi Gorge, a lawless region of Georgia that Russia said had become a haven for Islamic militants and Chechen rebels.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107564.html
GET SOME RUSKIES,,, GET SOME,,,
NEVER FORGET THE RAPES OF BESLAN GIRLS!
Terror at Beslan
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1316935651894423094
RAPES IN BESLAN: IN MUHAMMAD%u2019S FOOTSTEPS
http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST091304.html
Forget Not the Children of Beslan
http://kenlydell.typepad.com/islamic_evil/forget_not_the_children_of_beslan/index.html
Religion of Peace??? More like a cult of death.
http://www.terrorists-suck.org/why_suck/beslan.html
Radical Islamists must be stopped:
comments on the Beslan child slaughter.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/immigration/list.htm
Rapes in Beslan: in Muhammed''s Footsteps
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1214617/posts
who do you really want answering the phone???
Hillary Clinton 3 am Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-VFA7L2RcE&feature=related
"...the US dual citezenship Jews in NYC at CBS should be stripped of their US citizenship status and declared as enemy terrorisit combatant, and shot on the spot".
If you were a loyal, patriotic, US citizen, danstoned, you would not want to deny these so-called "US dual citezenship Jews in NYC" their Constitutional right to a trial by jury, their right to confront their accusers, and their right to equal protection under the law.
Clearly, you are not a patriotic American. You are probably, like many others who contribute to these Commants, a feral, Moslem jihadist thug, who is merely posing as a loyal US citizen.
Go back where you came from.
So, let me get this straight...you don''t like Jews?
McCain''s response to this crisis was to make an astounding statement. He said that "In the 21st Century countries do not invade other countries."
The world says:"What?Huh?Where have you been Mr. Invade for 100 years?"
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