GEORGIA: PRESIDENT SAYS GEORGIAN TROOPS CONTROL SOUTH OSSETIA
EurasiaNet
Aug 8 2008
NY
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, addressing the nation via
television August 8, indicated that Georgia had won the opening battle
for control of the separatist territory of South Ossetia. The outcome
of the war, however, remains very much in doubt.
Clashes began August 7 between Georgian troops and South Ossetian
separatists. [See related EurasiaNet story]. After nightfall,
Saakashvili went on television to tell viewers that Georgian forces
"completely control" Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian separatist capital,
as well as "all population points and all villages" in the territory.
The Georgian leader went on to call for national unity and attempted to
cast the military operation as an unavoidable action amid the country’s
transformation from formerly Soviet republic to a Western-oriented
democracy. "The fight for the future is worth fighting," he said. "If
we stand together, there is no force that can defeat Georgia, defeat
freedom, defeat a nation striving for freedom — no matter how many
planes, tanks, and missiles they use against us."
It remains to be seen whether Georgia will be able to consolidate its
battlefield gains. Russian leaders have vowed to punish Tbilisi, and
Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev told state television that "the guilty
will get the punishment they deserve." A Russian Defense Ministry
spokesman announced that Russian troops have been dispatched to South
Ossetia, nominally to support Russian peacekeeping troops already
on the ground, the official RIA-Novosti news agency reported. In
addition, witnesses have reported that dozens of Russian tanks
and armored vehicles have moved into the conflict zone, along with
hundreds of supposed "volunteers" ready to assist beleaguered South
Ossetian separatist forces.
According to Russian military sources, at least 10 Russian peacekeepers
had been killed and 30 wounded during the initial Georgian thrust
into the separatist-held territory, according to a RIA-Novosti report.
As night fell over Tskhinvali, Georgian officials in Tbilisi and
troops in South Ossetia braced for a Russian riposte. There were
some early indications that the Kremlin might not limit its response
to Ossetia. For example, the Rustavi-2 television station in Georgia
reported late August 8 that jets coming from the direction of Armenia
bombed a site in the southwestern Georgian hamlet of Bolnisi, not
far from the borders with Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Such reports are especially ominous, given that they portend a
widening of the fighting. US President George W. Bush conferred with
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Beijing on August 8. "We
urge restraint on all sides — that violence would be curtailed
and that direct dialogue could ensue in order to help resolve their
differences," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters.
Some Georgian officials, including Georgian National Security
Council chief Kakha Lomaia, have publicly compared Tbilisi’s
current predicament to that faced by Hungary in 1956 and the former
Czechoslovakia in 1968, references to invasions carried out by
Soviet military forces. Lomaia has announced that roughly half of
the approximately 2,000 Georgian troops now in Iraq as part of the
US-led coalition were being brought home to help contend with the
domestic security crisis.
Although the strategic situation late August 8 seemed favorable
to Georgia, Saakashvili sounded as though his side was on the
defensive. He conveyed a feeling that the challenges in the coming days
will only mount for Georgia. "We will not give up, and we will achieve
victory. I call on everyone to mobilize. I declare, here and now,
a universal mobilization of the nation and the Republic of Georgia,"
he said during his televised address. "I hereby announce that reserve
officers are called up — everyone must come to mobilization center
and fight to save our country."