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Russia seizes Georgia base
Russia opened a second front of fighting in Georgia on Monday, seizing a military base in the country's west.
- AP
- Published: 20:25 August 11, 2008
- Image Credit: AP
- Georgian soldiers on a tank as it makes its way along a street in Gori, Georgia, near the breakaway province of South Ossetia, Monday,
Tbilisi, Georgia: Russia opened a second front of fighting in Georgia on Monday, sending armoured vehicles beyond two breakaway provinces and seizing a military base and police stations in the country's west, the Georgian government and a Russian official said.
The new forays into Georgia - even as Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on signed a cease-fire pledge - appeared to show Russian determination to subdue the small, US-backed country, which has been pressing for Nato membership.
The latest developments indicate that Russian troops have invaded Georgia proper from the separatist province of Abkhazia while most Georgian forces are locked up in fighting around another breakaway region of South Ossetia.
Criticism from West
The West has sharply criticised Russia's military response to Georgia's attack on South Ossetia as disproportionate, and the world's seven largest economic powers urged Russia on Monday to accept an immediate cease-fire and agree to international mediation.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her colleagues from the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations spoke by telephone and pledged their support for a negotiated solution to the conflict that has been raging since Friday between the former Soviet state and Russia, a State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the call had not yet been formally announced.
Related Links
- Russia seeks emergency meeting with Nato
- Russia rejects Georgia ceasefire offer
- Georgia parliament approves a 'state of war'
- Putin arrives in region next to conflict
- Sarkozy proposes three-point plan to end fighting
- Russia denies Georgian troop withdrawal
- Russia in control of South Ossetian capital
- 'Dangerous to go anywhere in Georgia'
- Russia boosts forces in Abkhazia
- Call for ceasefire without delay
Nana Intskerveli, the Georgian Defense Ministry's spokeswoman, said Russian armoured personnel carriers rolled into the base in Senaki, about 20 miles inland from the Black Sea port of Poti.
Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said Russian forces also took over police stations in the town of Zugdidi - about 20 miles from the base and also outside Abkhazia.
In Moscow, a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to give his name, confirmed the move into Senaki and said it was intended to prevent Georgian troops from concentrating.
The move followed Russia's warning to Georgian forces west of Abkhazia to lay down arms or face a Russian military action. Senaki is located about 30 miles east of the Inguri River, which separates Abkhazia from Georgia proper.
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