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Russia warns Georgia as S.Ossetia tension rises
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 01 - 08 - 2009

South Ossetia accused Georgian
forces of firing mortars at the rebel territory on Saturday and
Russia warned Tbilisi it reserved the right to use force to
defend civilians a year after their five-day war, Reuters reported.
Georgia denied any shooting took place and, amid rising
tension ahead of the Aug 7 anniversary of the war, said the
Russian statement suggested "aggressive intent". Analysts warn
of the risk of skirmishes boiling over into renewed hostilities.
South Ossetia said two mortar rounds were fired at a
military observation post from the village of Ditsi on the
Georgian side of the de facto border, which runs a few hundred
metres from the southern edge of the rebel capital Tskhinvali.
South Ossetia made a similar accusation on Thursday, and a
Reuters reporter heard two loud blasts from the rebel capital
Tskhinvali but could not identify the cause. European Union
ceasefire monitors said they had seen no evidence to confirm
Tskhinvali or its surroundings had been fired on.
But Russia warned Georgia against "further acts of
provocation".
"The Russian Defence Ministry reserves the right to use all
available force and means to defend the citizens of the republic
of South Ossetia and Russian servicemen," the ministry said in a
statement, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.
Russia crushed a Georgian assault on South Ossetia last
August after months of escalating tension, sending tanks deep
into Georgia proper and shaking Western confidence in oil and
gas routes running through the volatile South Caucasus.
The Georgian Interior Ministry said there had been no
shooting from either side of the boundary. The Russian statement
"clearly shows very aggressive intent," said ministry spokesman
Shota Utiashvili. He urged the West to pay attention.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry said Russian statements "shed
ample light on Russia's dangerous designs against Georgia." The
240-strong EU monitoring mission, deployed after the war but
denied access to either rebel region, urged restraint.
"The EUMM is seriously concerned about the escalation of
accusations of alleged incidents that have taken place in recent
days," it said in a statement.
Like the rebel Black Sea region of Abkhazia, South Ossetia
threw off Georgian rule in wars in the early 1990s during the
collapse of the Soviet Union.
In an interview with Reuters, South Ossetia's self-styled
president Eduard Kokoity said he wanted Russia to send in more
troops and "more serious weaponry", and that his goal was to
unite his people with Russia.
The West accused Russia of a "disproportionate" response
during last year's war, and the European Union brokered a
ceasefire and sent in monitors.
Russia recognised the rebel territories as independent
states, backed by thousands of Russian troops, although the
ceasefire called for a withdrawal to pre-war positions.


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