U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE CALLS FOR END TO VIOLENCE IN SOUTH OSSETIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
08.08.2008 19:34 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The U.S. Department of State’s acting deputy
spokesman, Gonzalo R. Gallegos, said Washington is "urging Moscow to
press South Ossetia’s de facto leaders to stop firing."

"We’re urging Tbilisi to maintain restraint. We’re very concerned
about the situation. We call for an immediate end to the violence and
for direct talks between the parties," he said at a press briefing
in Washington.

Earlier today, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili requested
U.S. support in war with Russia.

On the night of August 8, Georgia troops attacked Tskhinvali,
seizing several districts of the South Ossetian capital and then 11
surrounding villages.

Commander of combined peacekeeping forces, major general Marat
Kulakhmetov said that South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, has been
nearly destroyed.

"Gunfire has been suspended. Tskhinvali is enveloped in fires,"
Interfax’s correspondent reported from the site.

Meanwhile, according to some sources, Russian armored vehicles entered
the city.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said 150 Russian tanks and
armored personnel carriers entered South Ossetia.