Moscow-Washington tensions worsen as Russia occupies Georgian city

Tbilisi: Advancing Russian forces on Monday took a key Georgian city and the country's armed forces retrenched to defend the capital, a top Georgian official said.

Russian troops occupied Gori, close to the breakaway region of South Ossetia, Georgia's National Security Council secretary Alexander Lomaia said, amid growing international calls for a halt to the fighting which has reportedly left hundreds dead and forced tens of thousands out of their homes.

"Georgian armed forces received an order to leave Gori and to fortify positions near Mtskheta to defend the capital," Lomaia said. "This is a total onslaught." Mtskheta is 24km from Tbilisi.

Regrouping

The UN refugee agency said earlier that 80 per cent of the 50,000 population of Gori had fled the city because of Russian attacks.

Russian forces also carried out military operations around the western city of Senaki to prevent Georgian troops from regrouping and heading back into South Ossetia, news agencies reported quoting the Russian defence ministry.

A Russian military spokesman said 9,000 troops and more than 350 armoured vehicles would be deployed to bolster forces inside the second Georgian separatist region of Abhkazia.

Meanwhile, diplomatic tensions between Russia and the United States held up efforts to pass a UN Security Council call for an end to the fighting over the breakaway region.

Hacking allegation

Georgia accused Russia yesterday of using computer hackers to wage "cyber warfare" on Georgian government websites at the same time as it carried out a military offensive.

"A cyber warfare campaign by Russia is seriously disrupting many Georgian websites, including that of the Foreign Affairs Ministry," the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.

As of 1330 GMT (5.30pm UAE time), attempts to access the ministry website resulted in an error message, but ministry statements were available on (http://georgiamfa.blogspot.com).

Ministry spokeswoman Nato Chikovani said: "Several government websites have gone down since the hacker attacks began on Friday."

-Reuters