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Georgia Pres.: Russian tanks moving deeper into my country
By The Associated Press
Tags: Georgia, Israel, Russia 

Georgia's president said Thursday that a column of Russian tanks and other vehicles was moving from western Georgia toward the country's second-largest city, and that Russian forces control a third of his nation's territory.

Mikhail Saakashvili, speaking to foreign reporters in an appeal for international help, said the convoy was about halfway between the cities of Senaki and Kutaisi.

Kutaisi is toward central Georgia, not near the two separatist provinces where fighting has erupted in recent days, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
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Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said it was a rather large column of Russian armor, over 100 pieces. He said it had departed from the city of Zugdidi.

"We have no idea what they're doing there, why the movement, where they're going, he said in a telephone briefing. One explanation could be they are trying to rattle the civilian population."

A senior United States official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said: "If these reports are true, they are a matter
of great concern."

There was no immediate response from Russia to the claims. Both sides have announced conflicting versions of events since the fighting broke out Aug. 7, when Georgia sought to retake a breakaway province backed by Moscow and Russia respmded with a fierce retaliation.

"I think the world should think very carefully about what is going on here," Saakashvili said. "We need to stop everyone that can be stopped now."

U.S., Russia at loggerheads over Georgia conflict

The United States and Russia engaged in a war of words on Thursday over Moscow's intentions for war-torn Georgia's two separatist provinces.

In Moscow, Russia's foreign minister declared the world can forget about Georgia getting back South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the breakaway provinces.

For its part, the Bush administration said it will ignore the bluster from Russia about the future of separatist regions - but U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned if Russia does not pull back from Georgia it could hurt Moscow-Washington relations for years to come.

The declaration from minister Sergey Lavrov came simultaneously with the announcement that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was meeting in the Kremlin with the two separatist leaders - a clear sign that Moscow is considering absorbing the separatist provinces.

The latest developments presented a huge challenge to the European Union-sponsored cease-fire agreement designed to end seven days of fighting. The EU accord had envisioned Russian and Georgian forces returning to their original positions - something that is not happening, at least in Russia's view.

"One can forget about any talk about Georgia's territorial integrity because, I believe, it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state," Lavrov told reporters.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew into France on Thursday to support the EU cease-fire crafted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"The United States of America stands strongly, as the president of France just said, for the territorial integrity of Georgia," she said after meeting with Sarkozy.

Meanwhile, Russian troops swept through Georgian cities, forests and fields on Thursday, searching for military equipment left behind by Georgian forces.

Relief planes swooped into the Georgian capital of Tbilisi with tons of supplies for the estimated 100,000 people uprooted by the fighting. U.S. officials said their two planes carried cots, blankets, medicine and surgical supplies - but the Russians insinuated that Georgia's U.S. ally might have sent in military aid as well and warned the U.S. not to support revenge attacks.

Russia's deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said he
wasn't sure that the U.S. planes carried only humanitarian cargo. "It causes our concern," he said.

U.S. officials rejected the claim.

Russian troops and Georgian troops briefly patrolled the strategic city of Gori on Thursday, before relations between the two sides broke down and the Georgians left. At least 20 explosions were heard later near Gori, along with small-arms fire. It was not clear whether it was renewed fighting or the disposal of ordnance.

Gori, battered by Russian bombing even before Tuesday's cease-fire, lies on Georgia's main east-west road only 100 kilometers west of Tbilisi.

Earlier at a checkpoint outside the city, Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said Georgian engineers and special forces were combing the area for Russian mines.

"We are cleaning roads because we have information that there are some mines," he told AP.

AP television footage showed Russian troops both inside and outside Gori, with plumes of black smoke rising from behind a forest.

Nogovitsyn said Russian troops went into Gori to establish contact with its civilian administration and to take control over military depots abandoned by the Georgian forces. "The abandoned weapons needed protection," he said.

Danish journalists said drunken South Ossetia militiamen fired shots into the ground before them and a UNHCR representative Thursday as Russian tanks blocked them from entering Gori. One journalist had his television camera seized.

In Vienna, Victor Dolidze, Georgia's ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said Russians were looting the Georgian military base in Senaki, as well as the key Black Sea port of Poti. Dolidze also cited fears that Russian troops had also laid mines in Senaki and Poti.



Related articles:
  • Moscow agrees to stick to truce, as Rice threatens Russian isolation
  • Georgia president denies Israel halted military aid
  • Israel predicted Georgia and Russia headed for war in 2007
  • FROM GEORGIA / After fleeing Gori, refugees find themselves angry at the world
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    Robbed in the war zone
    Two Haaretz journalists robbed by armed Russian troops in Georgian city of Gori.
    The Jewish Brad Pitt
    Hollywood star plays American-Jewish hillbilly in the latest Tarantino film.
      1.   Where exactly does the article say what`s written in the title? 15:57  |  S 14/08/08
      2.   The shvilies give me the willies 18:21  |  Chanalau, Tova 14/08/08
      3.   PLEASE! PLEASE!!! PLLLEEEEASEE!!!! Leave Georgia! :( 18:33  |  USA 14/08/08
      4.   We congratulate Russia on the proper reaction to insane rulers 18:49  |  Sal 14/08/08
      5.   why not let russia have south ossetia and abakazia? 20:48  |  frenz 14/08/08
      6.   Mission Statement 21:38  |  Shimon Cleopas 14/08/08
      7.   Poland and US agreed on Missile Defense!!!!! 21:52  |  Persian Hero 14/08/08
      8.   1 option for Georgia 22:18  |  Philippe 14/08/08
      9.   No Leg To Stand On 22:58  |  Cool B 14/08/08
      10.   Russia`s unbridled aggression 23:12  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 14/08/08
      11.   never open the 00:02  |  Observer 15/08/08
      12.   #7 Bush is trying to start World War 3. 00:06  |  Mark 15/08/08
      13.   WHY IS RUSSIA GOING DEEPER? PULL OUT! PULL OUT! 00:21  |  Dr. Ruth 15/08/08
      14.   look backward and compare 00:21  |  Observer 15/08/08
      15.   Bye Bye ......Georgia. 01:49  |  BamBoo 15/08/08
      16.   US and Poland send clear message to russian neo-fascists 02:16  |  Voice of Reason 15/08/08
      17.   LMFAO @ Georgia & it`s puppet Gov`t 02:18  |  POP 15/08/08
      18.   By the posts it looks like Haaretz boards have finally become 02:25  |  Alex 15/08/08
      19.   he is not ethnically Russian 02:35  |  Sergei 15/08/08
      20.   #8, COOL B, a logical and fair statement 02:43  |  VIPER 15/08/08
      21.   How much longer will Saakashvili last? 03:50  |  Harold 15/08/08
      22.   @9 Cipora Julianna Kohn 03:50  |  Mark B. 15/08/08
      23.   Georgia`s Unbridled Aggression vs. Russia`s Legitimate Response 05:11  |  Lev Bronstein 15/08/08
      24.   #9 Say Cipora, after Lebanon, you`ve 06:23  |  ballistic 15/08/08
      25.   CAN`T BELIEVE ANYTHING HE SAYS 06:38  |  Arik Silverman 15/08/08
      26.   They must be moving VERY SLOWLY.... 06:48  |  Che Vive 15/08/08
      27.   #9 Give it a rest, Cipora 08:39  |  Johnboy 15/08/08
      28.   #5 Russia isn`t claiming either area, frenz 12:59  |  Johnboy 15/08/08
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