Georgia November 2008 Daily Chronology
Saturday 29 November 2008
Dmitry Medvedev welcomed a decision by the U.S. not to push for Georgia and Ukraine`s entry into NATO using the alliance`s so-called membership action plan (MAP). The Russian President said he was "glad" that "common sense prevailed" in the end. Speaking in Cuba on the final leg of his South American tour, Medvedev said he didn't know how Washington had cometo this conclusion, but said he was relieved wisdom had won the day at least at the end of this administration's term. "Whether they finally listened to Europe or someone else, the main thing is that this idea will not be pushed forward with such frenzy and futility as it was a short time ago," Medvedev said.
Tuesday 25 November 2008
Russian warships sailed into port in Venezuela for a series of joint military exercises that mark Russia's first deployment in the Caribbean since the Cold War. The vessels, including the nuclear-powered cruiser, Peter the Great, and the destroyer Admiral Chabanenko, arrived at the port of La Guaira, near Caracas, for the pending maneuvers. The ships sailed into port ahead of the arrival by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, who met this week with his host, President Hugo Chavez.
Wednesday 19 November 2008
Russia and Georgia wrapped up a round of talks aimed at easing tensions after a five-day war in August over Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia. The United Nations and European Union sponsored Wednesday's eight-party talks in Geneva. Officials from South Ossetia and from the breakaway region of Abkhazia attended the meeting, along with a representative from the United States. The talks may have accomplished little in terms of concrete solutions to the issues that continue to divide Russia and Georgia since the five-day war. What was significant, however, was the simple fact that the parties actually met. Similar talks held in Geneva last month fell apart without the sides ever gathering in the same room.
Tuesday 18 November 2008
Talks are scheduled to start in Geneva on the Russia-Georgia conflict. The first round of talks on the conflict began on October 15, but was suspended after the Georgian delegation refused to sit at the negotiating table with representatives of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Amnesty says all sides in the August conflict may have committed abuses. In its new report, Amnesty says Georgian and Russian forces and militia fighters in the breakaway South Ossetia region should be investigated for war crimes during the conflict. Amnesty's John Dalhuisen says there is strong evidence of human rights violations, noting concerns over "indiscriminate attacks by Georgian forces on entering Tskhinvali and then Russian forces in reply. "Amnesty is also very concerned with the "looting, pillaging and destruction of civilian property essentially by South Ossetian forces and militia groups in aftermath of the conflict," said Dalhuisen.
Saturday 15 November 2008
Talks due to start in Geneva on Tuesday 18 November on the recent Russia-Georgia conflict must "concentrate on essential security issues" in the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said. "If we want to consider ways to guarantee security amid new conditions in the region and if we want to discuss issues that need to be resolved to create conditions for the return of refugees and displaced people we have to quit comparing status and put all procedural games to one side," Lavrov said in an interview broadcast Saturday on the Russian Ekho Moskvy radio station. He said that if these issues were resolved then the "two working groups on security and the creation of conditions for the return of refugees agreed on by the two presidents [Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy] will be able to calmly start work on the 18th of the month."
Monday 10 November 2008
The European Union said that talks on a new strategic partnership agreement with Russia would resume later this month, despite opposition from Lithuania. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters after an EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels: "The presidency statement clearly backs the position of the Commission that we must go on with our negotiations." She said negotiations could take place after a meeting in Geneva on the August Russia-Georgia conflict, scheduled for November 18.
Sunday 09 November 2008
Two former British military officers are expected to provide crucial evidence that the conflict in South Ossetia was unleashed by Georgia, a British newspaper said on Sunday 09 November 2008. "Ryan Grist, a former British Army captain, and Stephen Young, a former RAF wing commander, are said to have concluded that, before the Russian bombardment began, Georgian rockets and artillery were hitting civilian areas in the breakaway region of South Ossetia every 15 or 20 seconds," The Sunday Times reported. According to the paper, the accounts by the two former British officers, who were senior figures in the mission deployed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the conflict area, seem likely to undermine the U.S.-backed claims of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili that his little country was the innocent victim of Russian aggression.
Friday 07 November 2008
The New York Times has published an article which questions Georgia's account of the conflict in South Ossetia in August this year. Based on the observations of OSCE monitors, it reports that Georgia was not acting defensively, but started the shelling of civilians in the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinval. "The accounts suggest that Georgia's inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on August 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm," says the New York Times report. It says the monitors did not record bombardments of Georgian villages prior to its attack on Tskhinval: "According to the monitors, however, no shelling of Georgian villages could be heard in the hours before the Georgian bombardment. At least two of the four villages that Georgia has since said were under fire were near the observers' office in Tskhinvali, and the monitors there likely would have heard artillery fire nearby".
The U.S. State Department said the Georgian attack in South Ossetia last August was a mistake, but that it did not justify Russia's large-scale intervention. The comments follow a critical newspaper assessment of the Tbilisi government's role in the crisis. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department. In its most specific comments on the subject to date, the State Department says Georgian leaders made a mistake when they attacked the capital of breakaway South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, in August. But officials here say overall culpability for the war may never be known, and the focus now should be on getting Georgia, and especially Russia, to heed ceasefire obligations, and help return the region to stability.
Tuesday 04 November 2008
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has replaced the country's military leader, saying "shortcomings" during a war with Russia need addressing. "We must not forget that the enemy still stands at our door," said Saakashvili, who had not previously criticized the military's performance despite Russia driving the Georgian Army from breakaway South Ossetia in just a few days in August's war.
Georgia's Foreign Ministry rejected Russian charges that the country is blocking planned talks on security in the Caucasus later this month. A ministry statement said Georgia is fully prepared to take part in the talks scheduled for November 18 and blamed Russia for the stalemate in the earlier round of discussions in Geneva held on October 15. Both Georgian and Russian delegates walked out of inaugural talks in Geneva earlier this month, after Georgia objected to Russian demands for the presence of separatist representatives at the session.
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