Georgia busted over South Ossetia attack?

Accounts by independent observers appear to cast doubt on Georgian claims that it was acting in self-defence against Russia and South Ossetia in the Summer's short war which left Georgia's military crippled by Russia. The accounts suggest Georgia attacked the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali with indiscriminate shell and rocket fire and not the surgical strikes the Georgians have claimed. The claims that the attack was in response to attacks on Georgian villages earlier has not been able to be verified. Needless to say the Georgians dispute the observers. They also dispute the findings by a human right's group that Georgia used cluster bombs against civilians, as did Russia.



As a reminder that the region is a powerkeg in neighbouring North Ossetia 12 people were killed by a female suicide bomber in the capital.

Russia recognises South Ossetia and Abkhazia

Russia has recognised the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia following a vote in the Russian parliament. Western countries have protested of course as have the Georgian government. The U.S. called it "inconsistent with international law" though Russia said it was to protect people's lives.



Russia has also been accused of assisting with ethnic cleansing of Georgians from South Ossetia. Georgia has compiled a list of Russian attacks on it's territory.

Russian tanks leave Gori

The Georgians have said Russian tanks are finally leaving Gori and returning to South Ossetia and surrounding areas however did not say if all checkpoints set up by Russian forces had been removed with Russia saying they may maintain some near South Ossetia. Meanwhile the Mirazh, the Russian corvette which was named in sinking a Georgian vessel during a sea battle near the Abkhazian coast, has returned to Sevastopol to a mixture of patriotic cheers from Russians and boos from Ukrainians.

How bad exactly was Russia in Georgia?

Georgia has claimed extensive damage to it's military and civilian infrastructure at the hands of Russian forces, however western journalists invited to visit sites in western Georgia by the government have found few signs of damage to civilian facilities. The journalists in the port of Poti, for example, saw extensive damage to Georgian naval facilities including most of their navy and coast guard destroyed in their berths. However the civilian parts of the ports were largely untoughed except for the odd blast damage. Georgians said they were nervous about the presence of Russian troops however a student in Zugdidi said the Russians also seemed afraid of the Georgians.



Meanwhile Abkhazia is taking advantage of the situation to strengthen it's position and are posting troops on their border with Georgia. Russian tanks have begun withdrawal from Gori finally and there has been a prisoner exchange between Russia and Georgia though Russia are accusing Georgia of not withdrawing from South Ossetia.

Georgia accuse Russia of firing Iskander at them

The Georgians are accusing Russia of firing SS-26 “Iskander” missiles, one of the most advanced SSMs in the world, into their country. The Georgian Interior Ministry have posted nearly two dozen photographs online proporting to show missile debris and thus proving the use of the missiles. They are claiming Iskanders were fired at a number of positions including Poti and Gori and say it was a crime to use the missiles against civilian targets. The Russians have denied it's use.

Russia will begin withdrawing tomorrow

The Russians have said they will begin withdrawing on Monday from Georgian territory. However the Russian President said forces that were supporting Russian peacekeepers would withdraw which indicates Russian forces will remain in South Ossetia, as peacekeepers.



Meanwhile the Georgian government are claiming that Russian troops working with Abkhazian separatists are seizing more territory for the breakaway region from Georgia and also continuing to carry out acts of sabotage against Georgian infrastructure such as the destruction of a bridge in the Kaspi district. South Ossetian militia are also claimed to be attacking civilians around Gori. Meanwhile 37,000 South Ossetian civilians (which is over half the population of the region isn't it?) have fled into Russia where they are living in emergency shelters.

Medvedev : Georgia will lose South Ossetia

The Russian president has said that the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia are unlikely to want to remain part of Georgia. His comments came as both Russia and the US made statements about the Georgia situation. The US have accused Russia of wanting to punish Georgia for being western-leaning while trying to secure the truce between the 2 sides.

Meanwhile Russia have been accused of using cluster bombs against the Georgians after claims by US human rights groups. The Russian military however denied the weapons, banned by many countries, had been used. Some relief operations have been hampered by gunmen who stole vehicles from UN workers in Gori.

Russia sending more troops into Georgia?

Georgia is claiming that, contrary to claims the Russians were pulling out of Gori, they are sending more troops in and also entering the Black Sea port of Poti. Russia itself is saying they could send more peacekeeping troops into South Ossetia to guard against Georgian attacks (not that it is likely Georgia will be able to mount any attack for some time). Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia support the presence of Russian troops in their "countries".



Meanwhile the US and UK have pulled out of a planned joint naval exercise with Russia and France.

Blogger comes to rescue of Georgian cyber attacked websites

Russian cyber warfare attacks badly affected the Georgian government's web presence during the conflict, the virtual information war being raged as fiercely as the physical war. Georgia though have managed to create various blogs using Google's Blogger (which this blog uses of course) to get their message out when their normal web sites were down. For example the Ministry of Foreign Affairs blog and the blog of the State Minister for Reintegration.

As for the cyber attacks themselves Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks were used by Russian hackers to knock out the Georgian websites by overwhelming the servers with masses of requests. Russia Today's website was also knocked out by a DDoS attack, the initial attack coming from Georgia.


An alternative way of hacking electronics

Georgia-Russia : the war at sea

One aspect of the conflict has been a skirmish at sea between the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which was sent to blockade Georgia and the much smaller Georgian Navy, however the skirmish is shrouded in secretcy and much confusion. According to some reports the guided missile cruiser Moskva, which was the flagship of the Russian force, was hit by some sort of fire from a Georgian boat, some reports even have suggested it was hit by an Exocet missile. Moskva was withdrawn from the area with some damage though reports suggest not extensive (which perhaps suggests it wasn't a missile or perhaps the missile was hit by a point defence CIWS and Moskva was hit by debris).



The Georgian ship Tbilisi is then reported to have been hit by a Russian SS-N-9 missile and destroyed, it sinking within minutes. Though photos which appear to show Tbilisi on fire at port would perhaps indicate it was either able to get away or another ship was sunk.



Anyway another Georgian ship was damaged but was able to escape according to the report. Russian ships also launched missile attacks on Kodori according to the Georgian government and "saboteurs" destroyed various Georgian coast guard vessels.

After the war comes the looting

Officially there is now a ceasefire in the conflict between Russia and Georgia but there have been several reports of looting and burning of Georgian villages by either Russian or South Ossetian forces out for revenge. Several villages near Gori have been seen burning and people have been fleeing in panic. Russian forces are also on the road to Tbilisi from Gori seemingly in violation of the ceasefire. The conflict has definately continued between Georgia and Russia in the ...er.. Olympic Beach Volleyball.



Meanwhile the Russians have said 74 Russian military personnel died during the fighting with Georgia. They also said 1,600 civilians were killed in South Ossetia during the conflict. The Mayor of Tskhinvali said 70% of the buildings in the city were damaged or destroyed.

Georgia told to surrender or else

Georgia has been given tough terms after Russia ceased military operations yesterday and both sides agreed to an EU plan to stop fighting. Russian President Medvedev said Georgia must pledge to remove all forces from the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and to not use force in their territorial disputes. The populations of the 2 regions should also be given a vote as to whether they wish to join Russia. For it's part the Russians would withdraw back to the pre-war peacekeeping positions though would take action again if Georgia did attack South Ossetia again. Saakashvili probably doesn't have any choice to accept the terms considering the wrecked state of his armed forces, abandoned and destroyed military vehicles littering Georgia's highways.

Russian President calls an end to hostilities

The Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, has called an end to the military offensive in Georgia. He said Russian forces had punished the Georgians and restored security in South Ossetia. However forces will remain where they are for now and the offensive would resume if Georgia attacked. There are no signs yet of any peace talks with the impression being the Russians do not want to deal with Georgian President Saakashvili and want him removed from power.



An aspect of the war has been the often one-sided coverage of events, to be honest i've felt a lot of western outlets have been ridiculously overtly anti-Russian and gave the impression that the original Georgian attack on South Ossetia never happened. However there has also been a lack of coverage of Russia's bombing of Georgia in the Russian media.

Chaos reigns in Georgia

News coming out of Georgia is conflicting to say the least, Georgia seems to be claiming the Russians have seized major towns and cities like Gori while the Russians deny it, it could be Georgian communications are too chaotic or they are over egging the Russian advance in a last ditch attempt to get NATO to start World War 3 for them (or likely a bit of both). Unfortunately much of the western media seems to be accepting Georgian claims without the required pinch of salt as they, rightly, would from the Russians.



It is clear that the Russians have moved outside of the 2 breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia such as taking the western town of Zugdidi but no evidence yet they intend to advance on the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Meanwhile Galrahn's always excellent blog has a report on the interesting problems bloggers are giving for Russian operations security. Blogs both from military and non-military sources, an example of the former.

Russians break out of Abkhazia

Russian forces in the other breakaway region of Abkhazia have crossed into Georgia to attack the town of Senaki. Meanwhile there are reports that Gori had fallen to Russian forces though Russia itself has denied the claims made by Georgia although earlier on in Gori the Georgian leader Saakashvili was bundled away (below) in chaotic scenes when it was feared Russian aircraft were making an attack.



Georgian forces appear to be withdrawing back to the capital Tbilisi though Russia has accused Georgia of making an air attack on South Ossetia using helicopters.

US airlift Georgian troops back from Iraq

The US have airlifted 800 Georgian troops stationed in Iraq back into Georgia to help bolster the forces trying to resist against the Russians. The Russians have criticised the US for supporting Georgia calling them the real aggressors (as indeed they were though they would argue they are quite entitled to using military force against rebels in their own country).



There are signs the conflict could be coming to an end though as Russian President Medvedev has said objectives in South Ossetia are nearly completed with his forces now in control of the Ossetian capital, though the Georgians say Russia want to invade all of their country.

Meanwhile Israel will limit future sales of UAVs to Georgia to avoid angering the Russians. Three Elbit Hermes 450 UAVs have been destroyed by the Russians in recent months including one which memorably filmed it's own destruction at the hands (or rather AAM) of a MiG-29.

Abkhazia ready to open second front?

The other breakaway region of Georgia, Abkhazia, has mobilised it's forces and could be preparing to open a second front against Georgia. Abkhazian aircraft and artillery have already attacked Georgian positions and are massing in Gali district next to the Georgian border. As reported earlier Russian forces are already in the region.


Russian forces proported to be in Abkhazia

Meanwhile there are reports of dead mercenaries among Georgian losses in Tskhinvali or dead soldiers with dark skins anyway who are said to be either mercenaries or military advisers. An American soldier is a prisoner of the Russians though photos of him seem to be bogus.


Georgian soldiers usually look like this

Meanwhile there are signs the Russians have unleashed cyber warfare (how cool) against Georgia. Also have a look here for some interesting commentary on possible bigger consequences behind the events of the last few days.

Russian forces move out of South Ossetia into rest of Georgia

Russian forces have crossed from South Ossetia into central Georgia apparently (though a BBC TV reporter in the city this morning didn't seem to mention this oddly) and are now assaulting the city of Gori. The city, which has already been subject to a number of air attacks, was HQ for the Georgian military during their campaign against South Ossetian separatists last week which prompted the Russian invasion. Now Gori is coming under tank and artillery fire while Georgian defenders dig in. Other Russian forces are massing with local fighters in the other breakaway region of Abkhazia and could also enter Georgia. In other developments there have been reports that a US soldier working as an adviser to the Georgians has been captured in South Ossetia.


Russian artillery operating in South Ossetia

Georgian troops prepare for battle in Gori

Fighting continues despite peace moves

Fighting has continued between Georgia and Russia despite Georgia saying it had called a ceasefire and claiming it's forces had been withdrawn from South Ossetia. Russian aircraft have been reported striking targets deep in Georgia including the airport at the capital Tbilisi. Russian forces are also said to be in control of Tskhinvali though this was claimed before.

Meanwhile there are signs of escalation of the conflict, the Russian Navy is blockading Georgian ports (though they deny it of course) on the Black Sea and Russian sources are claiming a Georgian missile boat was sunk when it tried to attack Russian ships. Georgia has said the Russians have landed thousands of troops in the other breakaway region of Abkhazia, a sign that they want to open up a second front and more secure logistics line perhaps. The way into South Ossetia from Russia is via one road and tunnel and thus rather vulnerable. Incidentally the port the Russians are landing the forces at, Ochamchire, was linked to Russia by a new railway line completed just a couple of months ago. By the way Ukraine says Russian ships that attack Georgia will not be allowed back into it's waters to use the naval base the Russians lease there.

Fighting continues between Georgia and Russia

Fighting is continuing between Georgian and Russian forces over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russian aircraft are said to have attacked Georgian positions and bases outside of South Ossetia, some of them deep in Georgia. The Russians have admitted to losing 2 aircraft, a TU-22M Backfire and a SU-25 Frogfoot. Meanwhile control of the Ossetian capital is said to have been lost by the Georgians and the town now held by Russian forces. Much of South Ossetia is still in Georgian hands with the Russian forces (not that many have been deployed yet) most concentrated on the capital Tshinvali and a road to it from the Russian border.



Georgia is now trying to withdraw the troops it has in Iraq to help bolster it's forces back home. The Georgian president Saakashvili appealed to the US for help, they are allies after all though surely even Saakashvili can't imagine the US will start World War 3 over Georgia? Georgian aims in all of this mess are interesting, i suspect they want to bring their long-running problems with Russia into the open and get the international community involved. Its a high risk game thats for sure.

But why not grant South Ossetia independance one might ask, if it's good enough for Kosovo it's good enough for them surely?