Georgian, Russian Military Move Into South Ossetia
By VOA News
08 August 2008
Georgian officials are claiming control of the capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, where Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili says Russia is fighting a war against his country.
The Georgian leader told CNN television he ordered an all-out offensive to regain control of the breakaway area when Russian tanks entered the region.
Georgian Reintegration Minister Temur Iakobashvili told reporters Georgian forces are firmly in control of Tskhinvali, a report separatists denied.
In Moscow, Russia's Defense Ministry said its tanks are reinforcing Russian peacekeepers already in South Ossetia. Defense officials reported 10 Russian peacekeepers killed and 30 wounded in the fighting.
Georgian officials demanded Russia stop air attacks on Georgian cities -- which Russia denies carrying out. They say Russian planes bombed two Georgian air bases outside Tbilisi.
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev pledged to defend Russian citizens in South Ossetia, an area where many residents hold Russian passports.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Georgia of a campaign of ethnic cleansing against South Ossetians, many of whom have fled to Russia in recent days.
The White House, NATO, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have called for an immediate end to the violence.
Georgian authorities say they are taking measures to stop Russian mercenaries from entering the country.
The U.N. Security Council failed to reach an agreement on a Russian-drafted statement calling on Georgia and the separatists to stop fighting immediately.
South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia in the early 1990s, sparking fighting and the dispatch of Russian peacekeepers to the region.
Georgia accuses the peacekeepers of backing the separatists and has vowed to bring South Ossetia back under central government control.
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