Russian APC’s Heading for Tbilisi [Update]

TBILISI/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Georgia accused Russia of breaking a shaky ceasefire in their six-day-old conflict, a charge strongly denied by Moscow.

In a highly charged atmosphere of claim and counter-claim, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Russian tanks had stormed the Georgian town of Gori and were advancing on the capital, though a deputy minister later backtracked on this.

Moscow said the claims were not true. “No Russian troops or armor are moving towards Tbilisi,” Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of the General Staff, told Reuters.

[Several news sources have witness accounts of APC’s heading towards Tbilisi on a reconnaisance mission upto 30 miles from the capital. All heavy arms and munition depots in the Georgian sector near S Ossatia have been destroyed or put on transport. The Georgian armed forces have taken up a position 12 miles from Tbilisi.- Oui]

GORI, Georgia (Sky News/AP) – The head of Georgia’s national security council said that 50 Russian tanks [and APC carriers – Oui] had entered the strategic Georgian city of Gori, and another top Georgian official said his country’s troops were completely driven from the separatist province of Abkhazia.

The cease-fire agreement calls for both Georgian and Russian forces to retreat to the positions they held before the fighting over the separatist region of South Ossetia began.

The RIA-Novosti news agency cited the Russian Defense Ministry as denying the claim.

Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Zurab Gvenetadze said that Russian forces seized a military base on the outskirts of Gori, which sits on Georgia’s only significant east-west road, is about 15 miles from the South Ossetian border.

Independent confirmation of Lomaia’s claim was not immediately possible has come from a LIVE report on Sky News Television in the UK. Norwegian journalists nearby were robbed by Russian soldiers irregulars.

The small villages are not secured and civilians have been attacked during the night by bandits and irregulars. Check points may have been manned by soldiers who have deserted their army unit. Cars have been confiscated and civilians and journalists are robbed of their possessions. There are still lots of rumors and false information spreading.

NATO says Pres Medvedev’s decision to halt operation in Georgia good news

President Bush also spoke of reports that the Russians were blowing up Georgian vessels in the Black Sea port of Poti.

A C17 military cargo aircraft loaded with aid supplies was already on its way, Mr Bush said, adding: “in the days ahead we will use US aircraft as well as naval forces to deliver humanitarian and medical supplies”. Bush announced he had directed Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to launch a humanitarian aid effort, that one flight was already on the way, and that Russia must not impede transit routes or communications and withdraw its forces completely from Georgia.

“The United States strongly supports France’s efforts as President of the European Union to broker an agreement to end this conflict,” he said. “Russia must keep its word to end this crisis.”

TERITORIAL INTEGRITY OF GEORGIA

Mr Bush said that the United States “stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia and insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected”. His mention of territorial integrity rather than just sovereignty as mentioned by Mr Sarkozy will be welcomed by the Georgians.

Saakashvili believes US troops will protect and secure Georgian ports and airports   [Has been denied by the Pentagon – Oui]