Russia attempts to annex South Ossetia
Friday, July 4th, 2008It appears the status quo ante that Russia promised to uphold was just another in the series of untruths told by the Russian Government - they have annexed South Ossetia:
The Kremlin moved swiftly to tighten its grip on Georgia’s breakaway regions yesterday as South Ossetia announced that it would soon become part of Russia, which will open military bases in the province under an agreement to be signed on Tuesday.
Tarzan Kokoity, the province’s Deputy Speaker of parliament, announced that South Ossetia would be absorbed into Russia soon so that its people could live in “one united Russian state” with their ethnic kin in North Ossetia.
The declaration came only three days after Russia defied international criticism and recognised South Ossetia and Georgia’s other separatist region of Abkhazia as independent states. Eduard Kokoity, South Ossetia’s leader, agreed that it would form part of Russia within “several years” during talks with Dmitri Medvedev, the Russian President, in Moscow.
It seems the Russo-Georgian conflict will remain around for the fall season - potentially affecting the dynamics of the U.S. Presidential race, given McCain’s experience, and Obama’s inexperience, and his gaffes after the initial outbreak of the crisis.
In addition, the Russians are preventing Georgian refugees from returning to their homes:
The governor of Gori, a Georgian city occupied by Russian forces during the brief conflict, said Russian soldiers still occupied nearby Georgian villages.
“The Russians have checkpoints and we still cannot bring these people back home. The threat of paramilitary, irregulars, looting and robbing is still very high,” Governor Lado Vardzelashvili said.
“Apparently the Russian military are not willing to prevent these kinds of cases.”
Vardzelashvili said 28,000 people from villages in the Gori region still could not go home. The number could not be independently verified but Human Rights Watch has urged Russia to investigate reports of burning and looting of Georgian villages by Ossetian militias.
And if that wasn’t enough, Russia is claiming the United States provoked the conflict. The United States:
Two U.S. navy ships vessels, meanwhile, have already delivered aid to Georgian ports and a third, the navy command ship USS Mount Whitney, is en route with more.
Russia views with suspicion the use of U.S. warships to deliver aid to Georgia and says it is worried by the build-up of alliance navy ships in the Black Sea, where the Russian navy has traditionally been dominant.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Friday U.S. military advisers were involved in the conflict and accused the White House of provoking the crisis to help Republicans win the November U.S. presidential election.
What Chutzpah! Russia attacked Georgia on its own, without any help from the U.S., NATO or the U.N. It is no secret that Putin would rather see Obama elected, hence him raising this charge, in the hope it would help. It is also no secret that Medvedev is simply Putin’s puppet, that Putin still holds the full reins of power.