THE INDEPENDENT: Russia's military has no plans to leave Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia or the buffer zone around it, a senior Russian military official said today.
"We are not planning to leave anywhere...," Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian military's General Staff, told a news conference, when asked if the Russian military would remain in South Ossetia and the surrounding zone.
Meanwhile, Russian forces today took up positions at the entrance to Georgia's main Black Sea port city, excavating trenches and setting up mortars facing the city despite Russia's promise to pull back troops from territory deep inside Georgia.
Several armored personnel carriers and troop trucks blocked the bridge that is the only land entrance to Poti and another group of APCs and trucks were positioned in a nearby wooded area.
Although Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has promised that his forces would pull back by tomorrow, Russian troops appear to be settling in for a long presence, raising concern about whether Moscow is aiming for a lengthy and intimidating occupation of its small, pro-Western neighbor.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told The Associated Press that Russia was thinning out its presence in some occupied towns but was seizing other strategic spots. He called the Russian moves "some kind of deception game."
"(The Russians) are making fun of the world," he declared. Russia Military Not Quitting Georgia >>> AP and Reuters | August 21, 2008
WELT ONLINE:
Georgien - Russland verspricht sofortigen Truppenabzug: Russland will den Truppenabzug beschleunigen: Bis heute Abend soll sich die Armee aus georgischem Kerngebiet zurückziehen. Es sollen aber mindestens 500 Mann in Südossetien stationiert bleiben, um eine Pufferzone zu bilden. Nach Angaben eines US-Militärs gehe der Rückzug allerdings im Schneckentempo voran >>> | 22. August 2008
LE FIGARO:
Mikhaïl Saakachvili : « Moscou a décidé de se mesurer à l'Otan »: Le président géorgien explique au « Figaro » pourquoi la communauté internationale ne devrait pas faire confiance aux promesses du Kremlin >>> Propos recueillis à Tbilissi par Adrien Jaulmes | 21/08/2008
LE FIGARO:
L'ambassadeur de France en Géorgie bloqué par les Russes: L'ambassadeur de France à Tbilissi, Éric Fournier, a été retenu jeudi pendant deux heures et demie par les forces russes. Paris a jugé l'incident «inacceptable» >>> De Laure Mandeville | 21/08/2008
LE FIGARO:
L'Ossétie du Sud réclame son indépendance: La capitale, Tskhinvali, a été la ville la plus touchée par les offensives croisées des troupes géorgiennes et russes >>> D’Adrien Jaulmes | 21/08/2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
