Русская версияDuring a press conference conducted in English, Saakashvili said
Russia had launched a full-scale military invasion of his country.
"I call for an immediate ceasefire," Saakashvili said, with
Georgian and EU flags standing behind him.
"Russia has launched a
full scale military invasion of Georgia."
During a televised earlier meeting of the Georgian national
security council, Saakashvili had said that he had signed a decree
on a state of war. At the press conference, he pointed out that
this did not mean any curtailment of press freedom, but instead
called parliament to a permanent session and placed the entire
country on high alert.
Russian warplanes meanwhile bombed and virtually destroyed a key
Georgian port and hit another city as the administration in South
Ossetia, which is backed by Moscow, said 1,600 people had lost
their lives in the capital Tskhinvali alone. Georgian officials
vehemently rejected that figure, saying that it was completely
blown out of proportion.
Georgian officials said a Russian aerial bombardment had had hits
sites near the capital Tbilisi and key oil pipelines and
"completely devastated" the Black Sea port of Poti in attacks that
the country's UN ambassador likened to "a full-scale military
invasion." Poti is a key port and staging post for moving oil and
other energy from the Caspian Sea to the West.
According to Georgian public television, Russian forces also
started bombarding a Georgian-controlled section of Abkhazia, a
second breakaway Georgian region, hence broadening the war to a
second stage.
OSCE head: No quick end to fighting
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Alexander Stubb doesn't think fighting will stop any time soon
Finland's foreign minister, the current head of the OSCE, meanwhile
said Saturday that a quick end to fighting in South Ossetia was
unlikely as Russia said the death toll had risen to at least 1,500
and Georgia pulled troops from Iraq.
"We can always hope, but a ceasefire looks at the moment, at least
in the short term, very unlikely," Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb
of Finland, the current chairman of the 56-nation Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), told Finnish daily
Aamulehti
.
The OSCE monitors security in the region and has a mandate to
promote talks between the parties to the conflict.
Russia
on "peace enforcement operation"
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday that his country's
peacekeeping forces in Georgia were carrying out a "peace
enforcement operation" to protect civilians in South Ossetia.
"Our peacekeepeers and reinforcement units are currently running an
operation to force the Georgian side to (agree to) peace," Russian
news agencies quoted Medvedev as saying at a meeting with Defense
Minister Anatoly Serdyukov. "They are also responsible for
protecting the population. That's what we are doing now."
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Georgian television showed images of hundreds of rockets and heavy
artillery shells crashing into the South Ossetian capital
Tskhinvali. Shelling reduced entire city blocks to rubble,
according to eyewitnesses. Counts of civilian casualties varied
widely, with Georgia estimating between one and two dozen killed,
and some 100 injured as of Friday evening.
Eyewitnesses said many victims lost their lives when caught out in
the open by artillery fire as they attempted to flee. Georgian
television showed images of corpses sprawled along sidewalks and
streets, in some cases still holding luggage.
Who is in control?
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According to Russian sources, some 30,000 people have fled South
Ossetia
Control of Tskhinvali appeared disputed on Saturday, with Georgian
officials asserting total control of the city, and Russian
officials claiming that they had taken the city.
Refugees were leaving the region and heading north towards the
Russian border throughout the night, at times under Georgian
artillery fire.
Georgian forces late on Friday ceased fire for some three hours to
allow civilians to leave, but according to Russian observers
Georgian shelling interdicted roads leading north throughout the
night.
Georgia
pulls troops from Iraq
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Georgian has also mobilized its reserves
Georgia will reportedly withdraw its entire Iraqi contingent of
2,000 soldiers and bring them home as soon as possible as the
country is engaged in fierce fighting with Russia over breakaway
province South Ossetia.
The commander of the Georgian contingent in Iraq said that the full
brigade would go home as soon as possible.
"We are waiting for the US side. They are providing us with
transportation," Colonel Bondo Maisuradze told Reuters news
service.
(Deutsche Welle)
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