ARMENIA: GEORGIA’S DEFEAT PREVENTED WIDER CAUCASUS WAR
Center for Research on Globalization
&aid=14684
Aug 7 2009
Armenia would be in a state of war should Georgia’s plan not have
failed in 2008
-Azerbaijan was preparing a war against Armenia along with Georgia,
yet Russia’s actions frustrated its plans. "Armenia would be in a
state of war should Georgia’s plan not have failed in 2008."
Last year’s August events in Georgia showed the true position of
interested parties, politologist Sergey Shakaryants told a news
conference in Yerevan.
According to him, the Georgian-Russian conflict played a crucial
role for Armenia. "I thought that the NKR [Nagorn Karabakh Republic]
conflict settlement will serve a as precedent to other unacknowledged
states of Transcaucasia, but the opposite happened," the Armenian
politologist said, stressing that even unacknowledged states like
Abkhazia and South Ossetia were acknowledged, still the NKR was not.
According to Sergey Shakaryants, Azerbaijan was preparing a war
against Armenia along with Georgia, yet Russia’s actions frustrated
its plans. "Armenia would be in a state of war should Georgia’s plan
not have failed in 2008," he said, adding that last year Azerbaijan
thrice attempted attacks on the NKR, yet the attempts were frustrated
thanks to NKR forces.
On August 8, during the night and early morning, Georgia launched
a military offensive to surround and capture the capital of [the]
Republic of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, thus breaking the terms of the
1992 ceasefire and crossing into the security zone established therein.
The heavy shelling, which included Georgian rockets being fired into
South Ossetia, left parts of the capital city in ruins, causing a
humanitarian crisis.
Russia sent troops across the Georgian border into South Ossetia. In
five days of fighting, the Russian forces captured the regional
capital Tskhinvali, pushed back Georgian troops, and largely destroyed
Georgia’s military infrastructure using airstrikes deep inside the
smaller country’s territory.
On August 12, Russian President Medvedev said that he had ordered
an end to military operations in Georgia. Later on the same day,
Russian President Medvedev approved a six-point peace plan brokered by
President-in-Office of the European Union, Nicolas Sarkozy, in Moscow;
both sides were to sign it by the 17th.
On August 27, President Medvedev of the Russian Federation signed
two Presidential decrees recognizing the Republic of Abkhazia and
the Republic of South Ossetia as sovereign independent states to
authorize the drafting of treaties of friendship, cooperation and
mutual assistance with the new states.