STORM2K

Russian forces battle Georgians

Russian forces are locked in fierce clashes with Georgia inside its breakaway South Ossetia region, reports say, amid fears of all-out war.

Moscow sent armoured units across the border after Georgia moved against Russian-backed separatists.

Russia says 12 of its soldiers are dead, and separatists estimate that 1,400 civilians have died.

Georgia accuses Russia of waging war, and says it has suffered heavy losses in bombing raids, which Russia denies.

Russian tanks have reportedly reached the northern suburbs of the regional capital, Tskhinvali, and there were conflicting claims about who was in control of the city.

"Now our peacekeepers are waging a fierce battle with regular forces from the Georgian army in the southern region of Tskhinvali," a Russian military official was quoted as saying by Moscow-based news agency, Interfax.

After days of exchanging heavy fire with the separatists, Georgian forces moved on Thursday night to regain control of the region, which has had de facto independence since a war against Georgia that ended in 1992.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Russia was at war with his country.

He told the BBC: "Our troops are attacked by thousands of troops coming in from Russia."

Mr Saakashvili said Georgia had shot down several Russian planes and accused Moscow of bombing Georgian air bases and towns, resulting in the death of 30 military personnel and civilians.

Late on Friday, the Georgian national security council said Mr Saakashvili was poised to declare a state of emergency.

Despite denials from Moscow, the Russian air force has been carrying out air raids in South Ossetia and Georgia itself, says the BBC's Richard Galpin, in Gori, eastern Georgia.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he had to act to defend South Ossetia's civilians, most of whom have been given Russian citizenship.

He also voiced anger over the reported fatalities of Russian servicemen in the breakaway province.

"We will not allow their deaths to go unpunished," he said. "Those responsible will receive a deserved punishment."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had received reports that villages in South Ossetia were being ethnically cleansed.

The BBC's Matthew Collin in Tbilisi says battles continue around Tskhinvali with the sound of explosions, rocket fire and military planes flying overhead.

The regional capital, where inhabitants are said to be sheltering in basements without electricity or phone lines, is reported to be devastated.

Fleeing resident Lyudmila Ostayeva, 50, told AP news agency: "I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars. It's impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged."

International Red Cross spokeswoman Anna Nelson said it had received reports that hospitals in Tskhinvali were "overflowing" with casualties.

In other developments:

* The UN Security Council fails to agree a statement on the crisis, despite holding a second session of talks on Friday evening
* US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Russia to pull its troops out of Georgia and respect its territorial integrity
* Georgia's president said his country was withdrawing half its contingent of 2,000 troops from Iraq to help deal with the crisis
* Russia said it would cut all air links with Georgia from midnight on Friday
* The European security organisation, the OSCE, warned that the fighting in South Ossetia could escalate into a full-scale war
* The US and the EU were reported to be sending a joint delegation to the region to seek a ceasefire and Nato said it was seriously concerned

Pravda:

Russia becomes officially involved in war against Georgia

The UN Security Council gathered for a special session August 8, after 9 a.m. The meeting, held on Russia’s initiative is devoted to the military conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia. Russia’s constant representative at the UN, Vitaly Churkin, urged the UN Security Council to immediately interfere in the situation with South Ossetia to stop violence.

The Georgian aviation attacked South Ossetia on Friday morning. Five Su-25 fighter jets dropped bombs in the area of the town of S.Ossetian town of Tkverneti. The jets also bombed a humanitarian aid column. The President of North Ossetia, Teimuraz Mamsurov, who was traveling to South Ossetia in the column personally confirmed that the jet fighters attacked the column.

The N.Ossetian president was not injured in the attack,

The peacemaking headquarters in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, said that Georgia attacked the country at dawn. Three Russian peacemakers were wounded in the attack.

The intensive fighting began just hours after Georgia's president declared a unilateral cease-fire, officials on both sides said.

S.Ossetian officials said that 15 civilians had been killed in the fighting overnight.

Georgian units had almost surrounded Tskhinvali and had taken five villages in the region, Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Yakobashvili told a Tibilisi television station.

If Georgian claims of seizing ground are true, the assault would mark a major expansion of Georgia's foothold in the breakaway region. Yakobashvili said Georgian officials were doing everything they could to avoid casualties and the destruction of property.

Boris Chochiyev, a minister in the South Ossetian government, said that Georgian troops shelled the center of Tskhinvali with truck-launched missiles.

Chochiyev asked the Russian government to defend South Ossetians, most of whom hold Russian passports, from what he called aggression.

The Russian government blamed Georgia for the fighting, and called on Tbilisi to commit itself to peaceful resolution of the conflict.

"The Georgian leadership should come to their senses and return to civilized ways of resolving difficult issues," Russian Foreign Ministry Boris Malakhov said Friday, according to ITAR-Tass.

Yakobashvili said Friday Georgia was ready to negotiate, but claimed the South Ossetian officials were dragging their feet in starting talks.

A week of clashes and escalating tension in South Ossetia has raised fears of an all-out war that could draw in Russia, which has close ties with South Ossetia's separatist leadership.

At the request of Russia, the United Nations Security Council began meeting in emergency session starting at 11 p.m. Thursday (0300 GMT Friday) in New York.

Council members held private talks on a Russian-drafted statement that would have the council expressing "serious concern at the escalation of violence" and calling on all sides "to cease bloodshed without delay and to renounce the use of force."

On Thursday evening, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili had announced a unilateral cease-fire in a television broadcast in which he also urged South Ossetian separatist leaders to enter talks on resolving the conflict.

Saakashvili also proposed that Russia could become a guarantor of wide-ranging autonomy for South Ossetia, if the region remains under Georgian control. Georgian officials have alleged that Moscow is provoking the recent clashes.

South Ossetia's separatist President Eduard Kokoity blamed Georgia and called Saakashvili's cease-fire call a "despicable and treacherous" ruse, Interfax reported.

The Russian Foreign Ministry laid in with similar criticism, saying "the actions by Georgia in South Ossetia bear witness to the fact that the leadership of that country can no longer be trusted," the agency said.

Heavy shelling overnight Wednesday in South Ossetia killed at least one person and wounded 22, officials said Thursday. It was some of the most severe fighting reported since Aug. 1, when six people were reported killed around Tskhinvali.

The South Ossetian government said Tskhinvali and nearby areas came under heavy artillery and mortar shelling from Georgian-controlled territory early Thursday, wounding 18 people. But Georgian authorities said they were forced to retaliate when South Ossetian separatist forces started firing on Georgian troops in the area.

One Georgian soldier was killed and four were wounded, Georgian national security council head Alexander Lomaya was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Russia has soldiers in South Ossetia as peacekeeping forces, but Georgia alleges they back the separatists. Russia also was criticized by the West as provoking tensions by sending warplanes over South Ossetia last month.

Most of South Ossetia, which is roughly 1.5 times the size of Luxembourg, has been under the control of an internationally unrecognized separatist government since a war there ended in 1992. Georgian forces hold several swaths of it.

Russia also has close ties with a separatist regime in Abkhazia, another Georgian breakaway province. An open war in either region could prompt Russia to send in more forces under the claim of protecting its citizens.

Relations between Georgia and Russia worsened notably this year as Georgia pushed to join NATO and Russia dispatched additional peacekeeper forces to Abkhazia.

Wow, we didn't see this one coming.

from what I have read, Georgia attacked first. Russia was forced to respond to protect its citizens living in the "rebel" Georgian province

CNN reporting heavy casualties on both sides, including among the civilians. This is not a video game war. This looks like total war

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08 ... index.html

Its "citizens". The province is sovereign Georgian territory de jure, which is de facto a state in limbo. Russia decided to give all South Ossetians Russian citizenship. They can hardly use the excuse of protecting its "citizens".

Furthermore, there was no need for Russian planes to make air raids and bomb Georgian towns inside Georgia proper.

S Ossetia bitterness turns to conflict

By Steven Eke
BBC News Russian affairs analyst

As heavy clashes are reported in South Ossetia, Russia and Georgia have swapped increasingly angry accusations.

Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili has called upon his country to "mobilise" in the face of "a very blunt Russian aggression".

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had reports of "ethnic cleansing" in villages.

Russian tanks have reportedly moved towards the capital of the region, which has been under heavy bombardment from Georgian forces.

South Ossetia is a territory one-and-a-half times that of Luxembourg, with an estimated population of some 70,000 people.

It is legally part of Georgia, since its self-proclaimed independence has been recognised by no other state, including Russia.

Yet its people and their separatist leaders do not want to be part of the Georgian state, in any shape or form.

They want either to attain international recognition as an independent state, or to be united with their ethnic kin living across the border in the Russian region of North Ossetia.

Russia asserts that its role since the end of the South Ossetian war in 1992 has been that of a peace-keeper.

However, it has supported the separatist regime financially and militarily, and reportedly has a considerable number of security and intelligence operatives there.

Georgia also claims that Russian mercenaries are active in South Ossetia.

The "frozen" nature of the South Ossetian conflict - as well as that in the other, separatist Georgian region, Abkhazia - has allowed Russia to preserve a vital lever of influence over its southern neighbour, a country it now views as wayward, if not hostile.

There is, of course, an international peace process, but years of work have barely begun to bring Georgia and South Ossetia together. Their positions remain fundamentally irreconcilable.

There are also clear fault lines between Russia and the West in dealing with the immediate tensions.

A Russian-drafted UN Security Council statement calling on both Georgia and South Ossetia to renounce the use of force failed to secure British and US backing.

Russia has issued most South Ossetians with Russian passports, potentially justifying direct intervention (on the grounds of protecting "its own" citizens).

Recent heightened military tension had effectively given Russia a more solid pretext for intervention.

Military involvement may risk serious losses and international condemnation but the alternative of unilaterally recognising South Ossetian and Abkhaz independence could risk an even wider conflict.

Speaking on national Georgian television, Mr Saakashvili portrayed his actions as those of the leader of a democratic, freedom-loving nation defending itself from external enemies.

While he has many influential supporters in the West, there are also those who doubt his personal democratic credentials. Or suspect he may now be strongly overplaying his hand in a military adventure in South Ossetia.

Certainly, Russia wants to stop Mikhael Saakashvili. It views him as an emotional and dangerous leader, destabilising an already restless region on Russia's southern flank.

Moreover, Moscow wants an end to Georgia's crawl towards Nato membership. Just recently, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an extended essay on Russia's position in the world, insisted that Nato should be superseded as the pre-eminent guarantor of European security.

In this vein of anti-Western, anti-Nato suspicion, another school of thought in Russia believes that Mikhael Saakashvili is actually trying to drag Nato into intervention in his country's disputes with Moscow.

Mr Saakashvili has already tried to trumpet Nato membership as a fact - not a long-term prospect. So, for the time-being, it seems inconceivable that Nato would become involved in such a way.

The "Kosovo factor" also matters.

Even before the Serbian province unilaterally declared independence, there was a strong body of thought in the Russian political and diplomatic worlds, that believed Russian recognition of South Ossetian and Abkhaz independence would be morally and politically justified.

This has become much stronger since many Western countries ignored furious Russian objections and recognised Kosovo's independence.

how many people of the area were citizens dating back to the breakup of the USSR? In other words, how many are ethnically Russian?

If legit citizens were killed by Georgian forces, Russia has every right to retaliate, as Britain did after 9/11 (they said that by killing British civilians, Britain was attacked... maybe Russia is using that precedent)

They're not ethnically Russian. They're ethnically Ossetian. As this is Georgian territory, after the breakup of the USSR they did not keep their Russian citizenship.

Russian jets attack Georgian city

Russian jets have carried out a series of strikes on military targets in the central Georgian city of Gori, close to the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Most of the targets seem to have been military bases, but Georgian officials said a number of civilians had been killed in residential buildings.

BBC reporters saw seriously injured civilians being rescued from inside.

Earlier, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said his country was seeking "to force the Georgian side to peace".

Russian military commanders also announced they were sending more troops into South Ossetia to support its peacekeeping operations.

The BBC's James Rogers in Moscow says diplomatic initiatives to end the fighting have so far proved fruitless.



On Friday evening, the UN Security Council failed to agree on the wording of a statement calling for a ceasefire.

Russia holds a permanent place on the Council, and has the power of veto over any official statements that it regards as unfair or inaccurate.

Permanent members Britain, the US and France, are pinpointing what they say is Russia's aggression as the key factor in the slide towards war, while Moscow insists Georgia is to blame.

After days of exchanging heavy fire with the Russian-backed separatists, Georgian forces moved on Thursday night to regain control of the region, which has had de facto independence since a war against Georgia that ended in 1992.

In response, Moscow sent armoured units across the border. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said about 1,500 people had so far been killed, including 15 of his country's soldiers.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said 30 Georgians had been killed in two days of fighting and that Russia was at war with his country.

At a meeting on Saturday morning in the Kremlin with Defence Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov and the head of the Russian Armed Forces, President Medvedev said Russia's military aim was to force the Georgians to stop fighting.

"Our peacekeepers and the units attached to them are currently carrying out an operation to force the Georgian side to [agree to] peace," he said.

"They also bear the responsibility for protecting the population."

At the same time, a spokesman for Russian ground forces said reinforcements, including elite paratroopers, were being sent to South Ossetia.

Fighting continued around the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali during the night, although not at the same intensity as on Friday, Russian media reported.

Georgia meanwhile said that Russia had launched air strikes on targets inside its territory, in what it described as "a full-scale military invasion".

Russian planes carried out several air attacks on military targets in Gori, where Georgian troops have been massing at three bases to support their forces engaged in South Ossetia.

The BBC's Richard Galpin in the city heard loud explosions and saw large plumes of smoke rising into the sky; soldiers and civilians were seen running through the streets.

One missile hit a military base, from which most of the soldiers appeared to have managed to escape beforehand, he says.

The Georgian military said residential buildings had also been struck, leaving a number of civilians dead.

Our correspondent says injured civilians were being pulled from the buildings, which were on fire and that there were clearly a number of serious injuries.

The Georgian foreign ministry said the Black Sea port of Poti, which is the site of a major oil shipment facility, had been "devastated" by a Russian aerial bombardment.

A spokesman for Georgian President Saakashvili denied the government was intending to impose martial law or evacuate as a precaution any government buildings in the capital, Tbilisi.

Chacor wrote:On Friday evening, the UN Security Council failed to agree on the wording of a statement calling for a ceasefire.

How about? "Stop."

Georgia has every right to take back what is theirs, it would be like Texas leaving the Union. We would do no different, like we did in 1861 to the south. Georgia has every right to do what they need to do inside of their country. Also, guest what Georgia is one of the few nations that have helped America with Iraq; Are we going to let russia slit their throats? Is this how we repay a friend for helping us. It would be wrong to allow "Russia" to do this again like they did many times before. You think Georgia is the last country Russia will take over if given a pass to do so; learn history and you will understand it is not. We can not allow a friend to be slaughtered, even if we have to pull all 130,000 troops out of Iraq in transport them to Georgia to show Russia that they can't take away freedom and liberty from this world like they did in the past we would be doing a great service for humaniy. I'm not saying go to all out war but just line our tanks up across the Georgian border in Russia should back down. Russia would not dare start a war with some one their own size if not bigger and more powerful.

We need to show that we will always be there for our friends, or many country's will not respect us at all. They won't went to be our friends they will think we won't be there. If we are going to stand for freedom then stand for freedom, if not allow Russia to take over all of Europe and don't have second thoughts of it.

HUK, if the Russians where serious they would never listen to the UN, they would laugh.


I know it may seem nuts to some people, but the history of Russia and how they think this is possibly the only thing they respect.

Now this is just my option.

Matt-hurricanewatcher wrote:HUK, if the Russians where serious they would never listen to the UN, they would laugh.

My response was more towards the wording of the statement than about the issue itself. Everone plays with the UN. If this was soccer, they would be the ball. Everyone kicks them around and they can only issue sanctions.

I was watching the news last night and they mentioned a rebel leader in the autonomous province. If Russia wants to defend its citizens in that province from the rebel leader, with the permission of Georgia, I don't see the problom. But the problem is, why does Russia attacks inside Georgia? It makes no sense except that they want to invade the country.

CNN.com:
updated 1 minute ago

Georgia declares state of war with Russia

TBLISI, Georgia (CNN) -- Georgia's parliament Saturday approved a request by President Mikhail Saakashvili's to impose a "state of war," as the conflict between Georgia and Russia escalated, Georgian officials said.

Saakashvili accused Russia of launching an unprovoked full-scale military attack against his country, including targeting civilian homes, while Russian officials insist their troops were protecting people from Georgia's attacks on South Ossetia, a breakaway Georgian region that borders Russia.

Separatist-backed South Ossetian sources reported that about 1,600 people have died and 90 have been wounded in provincial capital Tskhinvali since Russian forces entered the territory Thursday.

Russia's Interfax news agency said the death toll was at least 2,000 killed in the capital of South Ossetia and claimed the city has been destroyed.

Georgia said the overall death toll would be closer to 100.

Georgian officials said Russia has mobilized its Black Sea fleet off the coast of Abkhazia, another breakaway Georgian province.

Meanwhile, President George Bush, speaking from Beijing, called for an immediate halt to the violence, a stand-down by all troops, and an end to the Russian bombings.

The Georgian "state of war" order is not a formal declaration of war, and stops short of declaring martial law, according to Georgian officials who described it to CNN.

It gives Saakashvili powers he would not ordinarily have, such as issuing curfews, restricting the movement of people, or limiting commercial activities, those officials said.

It places the government on a 24-hour alert, said Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaia during a conference call with reporters.

Saakashvili asked Western leaders to pressure Russia to agree to an immediate cease-fire, which he said his country would willingly observe first.

"We are dealing with absolutely criminal and crazy acts of irresponsible and reckless decision makers, which is on the ground producing dramatic and tragic consequences," Saakashvili said Saturday afternoon.

A White House spokesman said President Bush spoke Saturday evening to Saakashvili and Russian President Medvedev.

The war, Saakashvili said, "is not about South Ossetia. It has never been in the first place. It is about destroying a small democratic nation aspiring to live in peace, freedom and liberty."

"This unprovoked, long-time-ago-planned invasion and aggression must stop," he said.

Russia, with a population of 146 million, is trying to destroy his country of 4.6 million people, he said, comparing it to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

"I think what is at stake here is the post-Cold War order," Saakashvili said.

Inna Gagloyeva, spokeswoman for the South Ossetian Information and Press Committee, told Russia's Interfax news agency that Tskhinvali was being "massively shelled" with artillery guns.

It was unclear which side was in control of that city on Saturday. The Georgians said fighting raged, but the Russians said they had "liberated" the city.

"Battalion task forces have fully liberated Tskhinvali of Georgian armed forces and started pushing Georgian units out of the area of responsibility of the peacekeeping forces," said General Vladimir Boldyrev, commander of the Russian Ground Forces, in an interview with Interfax.

Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, told a news conference that the Russian paratroopers will "implement the operation of enforcing peace" on both sides.

Nogovitsyn also confirmed that Georgians had shot down two Russian aircraft. Saakashvili said his military has shot down 10 Russian bombers.

Russia said the troops were also reinforcing the Russian peacekeepers already in South Ossetia.

"Our peacekeepers, along with reinforcement units, are currently conducting an operation to force the Georgian side to accept peace," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said at the Kremlin. "They are also responsible for protecting the population."

Interfax said 15 peacekeepers were killed in the Friday attack by Georgian troops. Russia has opened a criminal probe into their deaths, Interfax reported.

Georgia, a former Soviet Republic, is a pro-Western ally of the United States intent on asserting its authority over South Ossetia and Abkhazia. which both have strong Russian-backed separatist movements.

Russia moved troops into South Ossetia early Friday after Georgia launched an operation in the breakaway region when its unilateral cease-fire was met with what it said was artillery fire from separatists that killed 10 people, including peacekeepers and civilians.

Russia charged that Georgia had targeted its peacekeepers stationed in the region.

Medvedev said Saturday that Georgia must be held responsible for the situation in South Ossetia.

"The people responsible for this humanitarian disaster need to be held liable for what they have done," Medvedev said. He said the humanitarian problems were caused by "the aggression launched by the Georgian side against the South Ossetian civilians and Russian peacekeepers."

Russian officials said more than 30,000 refugees have left South Ossetia and crossed into Russia over the past two days, since fighting began, Interfax reported.

Maia Kardava, a Red Cross spokeswoman in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi was unable to provide refugee or casualty figures Saturday morning because she said aid workers were still gathering information and visiting hospitals in South Ossetia and western Georgia.

Russian forces bombed several targets in Georgia on Saturday, according to Kardava and the British Foreign Office, which advised against all nonessential travel to Georgia.

Russian aircraft bombarded military and civilian targets the port town of Poti, on Georgia's Black Sea coast, Kardava and British and Georgian officials said. Eight Georgians were killed in the port town, Georgian officials said.

In the town of Senaki, just inland from Poti, Russian forces damaged a railway line, a military base, and a center housing civilians who fled from nearby Abkhazia.

Military bases at Vaziani and Marneuli also came under attack, the British Foreign Office said, and Russian aircraft bombed the Georgian town of Gori, about 35 miles northwest of Tbilisi, Georgian officials said.

Inside South Ossetia, civilians have been without water, electricity, and basic services for more than a day, Kardava said. She said the Red Cross was unable to reach colleagues based in Tskhinvali because their phones had lost power and they were huddled in bomb shelters.

Also Saturday, the commander of Georgian troops stationed in Iraq said the 2,000 soldiers there will be withdrawn from Iraq "very soon."

Colonel Bondo Maisuradze said the United States would provide the transport to get them out of Iraq. He said he had no time frame for the move.

Saakashvili told CNN Friday that the troops were needed in Georgia to defend against the Russian military.

China is probably asking Russia to agree to a ceasefire behind the scenes, in my opinion. They don't want their big moment to be overshadowed in the news by this.

Matt-hurricanewatcher wrote:Georgia has every right to take back what is theirs, it would be like Texas leaving the Union. We would do no different, like we did in 1861 to the south. Georgia has every right to do what they need to do inside of their country. Also, guest what Georgia is one of the few nations that have helped America with Iraq; Are we going to let russia slit their throats? Is this how we repay a friend for helping us. It would be wrong to allow "Russia" to do this again like they did many times before. You think Georgia is the last country Russia will take over if given a pass to do so; learn history and you will understand it is not. We can not allow a friend to be slaughtered, even if we have to pull all 130,000 troops out of Iraq in transport them to Georgia to show Russia that they can't take away freedom and liberty from this world like they did in the past we would be doing a great service for humaniy. I'm not saying go to all out war but just line our tanks up across the Georgian border in Russia should back down. Russia would not dare start a war with some one their own size if not bigger and more powerful.

We need to show that we will always be there for our friends, or many country's will not respect us at all. They won't went to be our friends they will think we won't be there. If we are going to stand for freedom then stand for freedom, if not allow Russia to take over all of Europe and don't have second thoughts of it.

HUK, if the Russians where serious they would never listen to the UN, they would laugh.


I know it may seem nuts to some people, but the history of Russia and how they think this is possibly the only thing they respect.

Now this is just my option.

Matt, PLEASE THINK BEFORE YOU POST!

Removing our 130,000 troops from Iraq. Lets see what your plan will do

1. Cause us to lose in Iraq
2. Lead to WW3... lead to 5 BILLION dead, and to make matters worse, we'd be fighting an ALLY!

Georgia is NOT worth fighting over... not even worth a diplomatic bruhaha with Russia over. We need them in the fight against Al Queda

I will say one thing... this definitely came at a surprise and a huge time.

The world is focused on the Olympics and then a war breaks out.

8-8-08 the official start of the olympics and a nasty war in Russia.

Georgia may pull out of Beijing Games

BEIJING (Reuters) - Georgia's 35-strong Olympic team may pull out of the Games because of the Russian offensive in their country, their National Olympic Committee told Reuters on Saturday.

"We don't know what will happen but we're talking about it now. It will be the decision of the president of the country (Mikheil Saakashvili)," spokesman Giorgi Tchanishvili said.

Georgia called for a ceasefire on Saturday after Russian bombers widened an offensive to force back Georgian troops seeking control over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Russia put the death toll at 2,000, and 30,000 refugees from South Ossetia had fled to Russia over the past 36 hours. Moscow said two of its warplanes had been shot down, 13 of its soldiers killed and 70 wounded.

The Georgian Olympic team urged the international community to help end the violence.

"This deliberate strategy of aggression has grown into a full-scale military intervention involving all regions of Georgia," the athletes said in a statement.

"Georgia calls upon the international community to make it clear (to Russia) that intrusion into and bombing of the territory of a sovereign state is unacceptable in the 21st century and that such acts cannot and will not be tolerated."

The Olympics has suffered boycotts in the past, but it would be highly unusual for a team to pull out during the Games.

Among the most high profile withdrawals was one by several African nations a day after the start of the 1976 Montreal Olympics in protest over a New Zealand rugby tour of South Africa, at the time of the apartheid regime.

Earlier on Saturday the International Olympic Committee said the escalating conflict was a sad reality with the Games essentially being a symbol of peace.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had also issued an appeal calling on all warring nations to honor a traditional truce during the Games which opened on Friday.

"We can only bring the ideal of how sport can bring people together. It is a very complex issue and it is not for the IOC to give a perspective on what has been happening," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said.

"It is not what the world wants to see. It is contrary to what the Olympic ideal stands for. The sad reality is that there are a number of countries (at the Olympics) that are in conflict," she said.

U.S. President George W. Bush, who is in Beijing for the opening of the Games, said Russian attacks on Georgia marked a "dangerous escalation" of the crisis and urged Moscow to halt the bombing immediately.

What you are seeing is Putinism as work-although not Prez, Vlad the Impaler is calling the shots. He wants his version of the USSR. The Cold War is back and this time WE are on the losing side.

Steve

FYI, this has been brewing for a few months at least. The big surprise is the use of air power.
My question is, what natural resource is Russia after? If this was just over some people wanting to be Russian, there is no way it would get to this point. There has to be something there. Minerals, access to shipping routes, more oil....

I was just looking at the bracket and realized we could have a Russia/Georgia matchup in the second round of 68kg Judo.