Russia attacks Georgian city, peace efforts stepped up

[buckthesystem]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080809/ts_af...tiarussiaunrest

by Samantha Shields

Sat Aug 9, 5:53 PM ET

TBILISI (AFP) - Russian planes staged bombing raids across Georgia on Saturday as the conflict over South Ossetia escalated putting pressure on international efforts to secure a ceasefire.

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Russian warships headed for the Georgian coast, Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili said after air raids on the port of Poti and the city of Gori, where inhabitants said scores of people were killed.

The leaders of Russia and Georgia also stepped up their war of words.

"What they are doing is nothing to do with conflict, it is about annihilation of a democracy on their borders," Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said in an interview with the BBC.

Saakashvili declared a "state of war" in his country on Saturday but also offered a ceasefire to Russia.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev said his country had launched its operation to "force the Georgian side into peace" and accused Georgia of causing thousands of "victims".

Russia backs the separatist government in South Ossetia and sent in tanks and troops on Friday in response to pro-Western Georgia's military offensive to take back the province which broke away in the early 1990s after a separatist war.

Fears of a wider conflict added urgency to international calls for a ceasefire.

Britain said a joint European-US mission was due in Georgia late Saturday to try to help broker a ceasefire with Russia.

The UN Security Council met again Saturday to agree on a call for an immediate ceasefire after talks failed a day earlier.

France, which holds the EU presidency, announced that it would host a meeting of European foreign ministers early next week and an emergency EU summit could be held.

The European Union "strongly states its commitment to the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Georgia and its internationally recognised borders and urges Russia to respect them," said a statement released by France.

The EU "underscores that the military actions (against Georgia) could affect EU-Russian relations," it added.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will visit the region to present settlement proposals, France said.

The United States demanded that Russia to halt its military assault.

US President George W. Bush cut into his engagements during a visit to Beijing to call for an end to Russian bombing.

"We have urged an immediate halt to the violence and a stand-down by all troops," Bush told reporters. "We call for an end to the Russian bombings."

Georgia said a Russian air raid had "completely devastated" the Black Sea port of Poti in attacks that the country's UN ambassador likened to "a full-scale military invasion".

This was followed up with air raids on Gori, the main Georgian city closest to South Ossetia. Georgia's prime minister said another attack targeted the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline but did not damage it. Azerbaijan still suspended its oil exports through Georgia.

Apartment blocks in Gori were left in flames and residents said scores of people were killed. Georgian television showed images of the body of a pilot from a Russian jet shot down.

The conflict spread to Abkhazia, another breakaway region of Georgia, where the separatist government said its forces had launched attacks on Georgian troops. Georgia accused Russia of staging the attacks in the Kodori Gorge region, the only part of Abkhazia controlled by Georgia.

The United States has been informed that Russia plans to move parts of its Black Sea fleet towards Abkhazia, a US official in Washington said on condition of anonymity.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, arrived in the city of Vladikavkaz, close to Russia's border with Georgia, and said Russia had been right to launch its offensive.

"From a legal point of view our actions are absolutely well-founded and legitimate and moreover necessary," Putin said, blasting Georgia's "criminal" leadership.

The conflict with Russia has claimed 150 Georgian lives, the foreign minister said, while Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, claimed 1,500 South Ossetian civilians were killed in the burning of villages in just one day of Georgia's offensive.

In South Ossetia, Georgian and rebel forces made rival claims to control the capital, Tskhinvali , but Russia said it had "liberated" the city after airlifting paratroopers.

In the streets of Tskhinvali, home to an estimated 20,000 people before the conflict, tanks burned and women and children ran for cover.

South Ossetia broke from Georgia in the early 1990s. It has been a constant source of friction between Georgia and Russia, which opposes Tbilisi's aspirations of joining NATO and has supported the separatists without recognising their independence.

[Guest]