The 2008 Russo-Georgian War
[The war is known by a variety of other names, including Five-Day War, August War and Russian invasion of Georgia.] was a war between
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
, on one side, and Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of
South Ossetia
South Ossetia, ka, სამხრეთი ოსეთი, ( , ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated populat ...
and
Abkhazia
Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...
, on the other. The war took place in August following
a period of worsening relations between Russia and Georgia, both formerly
constituent republics
Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...
of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. The fighting took place in the strategically important
South Caucasus
The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...
region. It is regarded as the first European war of the 21st century.
The
Republic of Georgia
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
declared its independence in early 1991 as the Soviet Union began to
fall apart. Amid this backdrop,
fighting
Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...
between Georgia and separatists left parts of the former
South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast
The South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast (russian: Юго-Осетинская автономная область, ka, სამხრეთ ოსეთის ავტონომიური ოლქი, os, Хуссар Ирыстоны ав ...
under the ''de facto'' control of Russian-backed but
internationally unrecognised separatists. Following the war, a
joint peacekeeping force of Georgian, Russian, and Ossetian troops was stationed in the territory. A similar stalemate developed in the region of Abkhazia, where Abkhaz separatists had waged
a war in 1992–1993. Following
the election
''The Election'' () is a political drama series produced by Hong Kong Television Network (HKTV). With a budget of HK$15 million, filming started in July 2014 and wrapped up on 28 October 2014. Popularly voted to be the inaugural drama of ...
of
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
in Russia in 2000 and a pro-Western
change of power in Georgia in 2003,
relations between Russia and Georgia
began to deteriorate, reaching a full diplomatic crisis by April 2008, when
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
promised to consider Georgia's
bid for membership. On 1 August 2008, the Russian-backed South Ossetian forces started shelling Georgian villages, with a sporadic response from Georgian peacekeepers in the area.
Intensifying artillery attacks by the South Ossetian separtists broke a
1992 ceasefire agreement.
To put an end to these, the Georgian army units were sent in to the South Ossetian conflict zone on 7 August and took control of most of
Tskhinvali
Tskhinvali ( ka, ცხინვალი ) or Tskhinval ( os, Цхинвал, Чъреба, Tskhinval, Chreba, ; rus, Цхинва́л(и), r=Tskhinvál(i), ) is the capital of the disputed ''de facto'' independent Republic of South Ossetia, int ...
, a separatist stronghold, within hours.
Some Russian troops had illicitly crossed the Russo-Georgian state border through the
Roki Tunnel
The Roki Tunnel (also called Roksky Tunnel, ka, როკის გვირაბი; ; russian: Рокский туннель) is a mountain tunnel of the Transkam road through the Greater Caucasus Mountains, north of the village Upper Roka. I ...
and advanced into the South Ossetian conflict zone by 7 August before the Georgian military response.
Russia falsely accused Georgia of committing "
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
"
and "aggression against South Ossetia".
It launched a full-scale land, air and sea invasion of Georgia, including its undisputed territory, on 8 August, referring to it as a "
peace enforcement Peace enforcement is the use of military force to compel peace in a conflict, generally against the will of combatants. To do this, it generally requires more military force than peacekeeping operations. The United Nations, through its Security Coun ...
" operation.
Russian and South Ossetian forces fought Georgian forces in and around South Ossetia for several days, until Georgian forces retreated.
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
and
Abkhaz forces opened a second front by
attacking the Kodori Gorge held by Georgia. Russian naval forces blockaded part of the Georgian
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
coastline. The Russian air force attacked targets both within and beyond the conflict zone. This was the first war in history in which
cyber warfare
Cyberwarfare is the use of cyber attacks against an enemy state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, manipulation or economic war ...
coincided with military action. An
information war
Information warfare (IW) (as different from cyber warfare that attacks computers, software, and command control systems) is a concept involving the battlespace use and management of information and communication technology (ICT) in pursuit of a ...
was also waged during and after the conflict.
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012.
Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...
, the
President of France
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency i ...
, personally negotiated a
ceasefire
A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...
agreement on 12 August.
Russian forces temporarily occupied the Georgian cities of
Zugdidi
Zugdidi ( ka, ზუგდიდი; xmf, ზუგდიდი or ზუგიდი) is a city in the western Georgian historical province of Samegrelo (Mingrelia). It is situated in the north-west of that province. The city is located 318 kilom ...
,
Senaki
Senaki ( ka, სენაკი; xmf, სანაკი) is a town in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region, western Georgia. It is located at around between the rivers Tekhura/i and Tsivi, at an elevation of 28–38 meters above sea level. Senaki is ...
,
Poti
Poti ( ka, ფოთი ; Mingrelian: ფუთი; Laz: ჶაში/Faşi or ფაში/Paşi) is a port city in Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti in the west of the country. Built near t ...
and
Gori, holding on to these areas beyond the ceasefire. The South Ossetians destroyed most ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia and were responsible for an
ethnic cleansing of Georgians. Russia recognised the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia on 26 August and the Georgian government severed diplomatic relations with Russia. Russia mostly completed its withdrawal of troops from undisputed parts of Georgia on 8 October. Russian international relations were largely unharmed. The war displaced 192,000 people. While many returned to their homes after the war, 20,272 people, mostly ethnic Georgians, remained displaced as of 2014. In 2021, the
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...
ruled that Russia maintained
"direct control" over the separatist regions and was responsible for grave
human rights abuse
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...
s taking place there. In 2022, the
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals ...
issued
arrest warrants
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and seizure of an individual's property.
Canada
Arrest warrants are issued by a ...
for three Russian nationals because of war crimes against ethnic Georgians during the conflict.
Background
History
In the 10th century AD, Georgia for the first time emerged as an ethnic concept in the territories where the
Georgian language
Georgian (, , ) is the most widely-spoken Kartvelian language, and serves as the literary language or lingua franca for speakers of related languages. It is the official language of Georgia and the native or primary language of 87.6% of its p ...
was used to perform Christian rituals. After the
Mongol invasions of the region, the
Kingdom of Georgia
The Kingdom of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამეფო, tr), also known as the Georgian Empire, was a medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in circa 1008 AD. It reached its Golden Age of political and economic ...
eventually was split into
several states. In the 19th century, the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
gradually
took over the Georgian lands. In the aftermath of the
Russian revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
, Georgia declared independence on 26 May 1918.
The
Ossetians
The Ossetians or Ossetes (, ; os, ир, ирæттæ / дигорӕ, дигорӕнттӕ, translit= ir, irættæ / digoræ, digorænttæ, label=Ossetic) are an Iranian ethnic group who are indigenous to Ossetia, a region situated across the no ...
are
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
to
North Ossetia
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
, located in the
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...
. Controversy surrounds the date of Ossetian arrival in
Transcaucasia
The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...
. According to one theory, they first migrated there during the 13th and 14th centuries AD, and resided alongside the Georgians peacefully for hundreds of years. In 1918,
conflict began between the landless Ossetian peasants living in
Shida Kartli
Shida Kartli ( ka, შიდა ქართლი, , ; "Inner Kartli") is a landlocked administrative region (''Mkhare'') in eastern Georgia. It comprises a central part of the historical-geographic province of Shida Kartli. With an area of , Sh ...
, who were affected by
Bolshevism
Bolshevism (from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined party of social revolution, fo ...
and demanded ownership of the lands they worked, and the
Menshevik government backed ethnic Georgian nobility, who were legal owners. Although the Ossetians were initially discontented with the economic stance of
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...
authorities, the tension shortly transformed into ethnic conflict. Ossetian insurgents repelled the Georgian troops in 1918 and proceeded to occupy the town of
Tskhinvali
Tskhinvali ( ka, ცხინვალი ) or Tskhinval ( os, Цхинвал, Чъреба, Tskhinval, Chreba, ; rus, Цхинва́л(и), r=Tskhinvál(i), ) is the capital of the disputed ''de facto'' independent Republic of South Ossetia, int ...
and assault the Georgian natives. During uprisings in 1919 and 1920, the Ossetians were covertly supported by
Soviet Russia
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
, but even so, were defeated.
The independent
Democratic Republic of Georgia
The Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG; ka, საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა ') was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia, which existed from May 1918 to ...
was
invaded
An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...
by the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
in 1921 and a Soviet government was installed. The government of
Soviet Georgia
The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц ...
created an autonomous administrative unit for Transcaucasian Ossetians in April 1922, called the
South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast
The South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast (russian: Юго-Осетинская автономная область, ka, სამხრეთ ოსეთის ავტონომიური ოლქი, os, Хуссар Ирыстоны ав ...
. Historians such as
Stephen F. Jones
Stephen F. Jones (born 1953) is an English expert on post- Communist societies in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe who currently serves as Chair of Russian and Eurasian Studies at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts.
Jon ...
,
Emil Souleimanov and Arsène Saparov believe that the
Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
awarded this autonomy to the Ossetians in exchange for their help against the Democratic Republic of Georgia,
since this area had never been a separate entity prior to the Russian invasion.
Nationalism in Soviet Georgia gained momentum in 1989 with the weakening of the Soviet Union. The
Kremlin
The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...
endorsed South Ossetian nationalism as a counter against the Georgian independence movement.
On 11 December 1990, the
Supreme Soviet of Georgia
The Supreme Soviet of the Georgian SSR ( ka, საქართველოს სსრ-ის უმაღლესი საბჭო, ''sakartvelos ssr-is umaghlesi sabch’o''; russian: Верховный Совет Грузинской С ...
, responding to South Ossetia's attempt at secession, annulled the region's autonomy. A
military conflict
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...
broke out between Georgia and South Ossetian separatists in January 1991.
Georgia declared its
restoration of independence on 9 April 1991, thus becoming the
first non-Baltic state of the Soviet Union to do so. The South Ossetian separatists were aided by the former Soviet military units now controlled by Russia.
By June 1992, the possibility of a full-scale war between Russia and Georgia increased as bombing of Georgian capital Tbilisi in support of South Ossetian separatists was promised by Russian authorities. Georgia endorsed a
ceasefire agreement
A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state act ...
on 24 June 1992 to prevent the escalation of the conflict with Russia. Georgian, South Ossetian, Russian and North Ossetian
peacekeepers were posted in South Ossetian conflict zone under the
Joint Control Commission
The Joint Control Commission ( ro, Comisia Unificată de Control, COC; russian: Объединенная контрольная комиссия, ОКК) is a tri-lateral peacekeeping force and joint military command structure from Moldova, Transni ...
's (JCC) mandate.
Some, mostly ethnically Georgian parts of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast remained under the Georgian control.
The Tskhinvali-based separatist authorities of the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia were in control of one third of the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast before the 2008 war.
This situation was mirrored in Abkhazia, an
autonomous republic
An autonomous republic is a type of administrative division similar to a province or state. A significant number of autonomous republics can be found within the successor states of the Soviet Union, but the majority are located within Russia. Man ...
in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, where the
Abkhaz separated from Georgia during the
war in the early 1990s.
By 2003, the population of Abkhazia was reduced from 525,000 to 216,000 after an
ethnic cleansing of Georgians, the single largest ethnic group in the region. The upper
Kodori Gorge
The Kodori Valley, also known as the Kodori Gorge ( ka, კოდორის ხეობა, ab, Кәыдырҭа, Kwydyrta), is a river valley in Abkhazia, Georgia's breakaway autonomous republic. The valley's upper part, populated by Svans, ...
in northeast Abkhazia remained beyond the Abkhaz separatist government's sway.
Russian interests and involvement
Transcaucasia lies between the Russian region of the North Caucasus and the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
, constituting a "
buffer zone
A buffer zone is a neutral zonal area that lies between two or more bodies of land, usually pertaining to countries. Depending on the type of buffer zone, it may serve to separate regions or conjoin them.
Common types of buffer zones are demil ...
" between Russia and the Middle East. It borders
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
and
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. The strategic importance of the region has made it a security concern for Russia. Significant economic reasons, including access to major petroleum reserves, further affects interest in Transcaucasia. Rule over Transcaucasia, according to Swedish academic
Svante Cornell
Svante E. Cornell (born 1975) is a Swedish scholar specializing on politics and security issues in Eurasia, especially the South Caucasus, Turkey, and Central Asia. He is a director and co-founder of the Stockholm-based Institute for Security and ...
, would allow Russia to manage Western involvement in
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
, an area of geopolitical importance.
Russia saw the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
coast and being adjacent to Turkey as invaluable strategic attributes of Georgia. Russia had more vested interests in Abkhazia than in South Ossetia, since the Russian military deployment on the Black Sea coast was seen as vital to Russian influence in the Black Sea.
Before the early 2000s, South Ossetia was originally intended as a tool to retain a grip on Georgia.
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
became president of the Russian Federation in 2000, which had a profound impact on Russo-Georgian relations. The conflict between Russia and Georgia began to escalate in December 2000, when Georgia became the first and sole member of the
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a regional intergovernmental organization in Eurasia. It was formed following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. It covers an area of and has an estimated population of 239,796,010. ...
(CIS) on which the Russian visa regime was enforced.
Eduard Kokoity
Eduard Dzhabeyevich Kokoyty ( os, Кокойты Джабейы фырт Эдуард, Kokojty Ĝabejy fyrt Edward; born 31 October 1964) is an Ossetian politician who served as President of the partially recognized state of South Ossetia. His t ...
, an alleged member of the
mob
Mob or MOB may refer to:
Behavioral phenomena
* Crowd
* Smart mob, a temporary self-structuring social organization, coordinated through telecommunication
Crime and law enforcement
* American Mafia, also known as the Mob
* Irish Mob, a US crimin ...
, became the ''de facto'' president of South Ossetia in December 2001; he was endorsed by Russia since he would subvert the peaceful reunification of South Ossetia with Georgia. The Russian government began massive allocation of Russian passports to the residents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in 2002 without Georgia's permission; this "passportization" policy laid the foundation for Russia's future claim to these territories. In 2003, President Putin began to consider the possibility of a military solution to the conflict with Georgia.
After Georgia
deported four suspected Russian spies in 2006, Russia began a full-scale diplomatic and economic war against Georgia, followed by the
persecution of ethnic Georgians living in Russia.
By 2008, most residents of South Ossetia had obtained Russian passports. According to
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
, Russia supplied two-thirds of South Ossetia's yearly budget before the war.
South Ossetia's ''de facto'' government predominantly employed Russian citizens, who had occupied similar government posts in Russia, and Russian officers dominated South Ossetia's security organisations.
Unresolved conflicts
![MikhailSaakashvili & GeorgeWBush - FreedomSquare Tbilisi - 2005May10](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/MikhailSaakashvili_%26_GeorgeWBush_-_FreedomSquare_Tbilisi_-_2005May10.jpg)
The conflicts in Georgia remained at a stalemate until 2004,
when
Mikheil Saakashvili
Mikheil Saakashvili ( ka, მიხეილ სააკაშვილი ; uk, Міхеіл Саакашвілі ; born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician and jurist. came to power after Georgia's
Rose Revolution
The Rose Revolution or Revolution of Roses ( ka, ვარდების რევოლუცია, tr) was a nonviolent change of power that occurred in Georgia in November 2003. The event was brought about by widespread protests over the ...
, which ousted president
Eduard Shevardnadze
Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze ( ka, ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე}, romanized: ; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia for ...
.
Restoring South Ossetia and Abkhazia to Georgian control was a first concern of Saakashvili.
The Georgian government launched an initiative to curb smuggling from South Ossetia in 2004 after its success in restoring control in
Adjara
Adjara ( ka, აჭარა ''Ach’ara'' ) or Achara, officially known as the Autonomous Republic of Adjara ( ka, აჭარის ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკა ''Ach’aris Avt’onomiuri Resp’ublik’a'' ...
. Tensions were further escalated by South Ossetian authorities.
Intense fighting took place between Georgian forces and the South Ossetians between 8 and 19 August.
At the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
The Assembly is made up o ...
in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
in January 2005, Georgian president Saakashvili proposed a peace settlement for South Ossetia within a unified Georgian state. The proposal was rejected by South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity. In 2006, Georgia sent security forces to the
Kodori Valley
The Kodori Valley, also known as the Kodori Gorge ( ka, კოდორის ხეობა, ab, Кәыдырҭа, Kwydyrta), is a river valley in Abkhazia, Georgia (country), Georgia's breakaway autonomous republic. The valley's upper part, pop ...
region of Abkhazia, when a local
militia leader rebelled against Georgian authorities.
In 2007, Georgia established what Russia called a "puppet government" in South Ossetia, led by
Dmitry Sanakoyev
Dmitry Ivanovich Sanakoyev (born 10 May 1969 in Tskhinvali, South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union) is a South Ossetian and Georgian politician, a former official in the secessionist government of South Ossetia and later, f ...
(former South Ossetian prime minister), calling it a provisional administration.
In early March 2008, Abkhazia and South Ossetia submitted formal requests for their recognition to Russia's parliament shortly after the
West's recognition of Kosovo which Russia had been resisting.
Dmitry Rogozin
Dmitry Olegovich Rogozin (russian: link=no, Дми́трий Оле́гович Рого́зин; born 21 December 1963) is a Russian politician who served as director general of Roscosmos from 2018 to July 2022. He previously served as deputy p ...
, Russian ambassador to NATO, hinted that Georgia's aspiration to become a NATO member would cause Russia to support the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Russian
State Duma
The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...
adopted a resolution on 21 March, in which it called on the President of Russia and the government to consider the recognition.
Georgia began proposing the placement of international peacekeepers in the separatist regions when Russia began to apply more force on Georgia after April 2008. The West launched new initiatives for peace settlement, with peace proposals being offered and discussions being organised by the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
, the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...
(OSCE) and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. The separatists dismissed the German project for Abkhazia approved by Georgia. Russia and the separatists did not attend an EU-backed meeting regarding Abkhazia. They also dismissed an OSCE offer to renew talks regarding South Ossetia.
Relations between Georgia and the West
One of President Saakashvili's primary aims for Georgia was to become a member state of
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
,
which has been one of the major stumbling blocks in Georgia–Russia relations.
Although Georgia has no notable gas or oil reserves, its territory hosts part of the
Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline
The Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline is a long crude oil pipeline from the Azeri–Chirag–Gunashli oil field in the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. It connects Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan and Ceyhan, a port on the south-easter ...
supplying oil to Turkey. Russia, Iran and the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
countries opposed the construction of the pipeline.
The pipeline circumvents both Russia and Iran. Because it has decreased Western dependence on Middle East's oil, the pipeline has been a major factor in the
United States' backing for Georgia.
![Vladimir Putin 4 April 2008-8](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Vladimir_Putin_4_April_2008-8.jpg)
During the
NATO summit in Bucharest in April 2008, American president
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
campaigned for offering a
Membership Action Plan
NATO is a military alliance of twenty-eight European and two North American countries that constitutes a system of collective defense. The process of joining the alliance is governed by Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which allows ...
(MAP) to Georgia and
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
. However, Germany and France said that offering a MAP to Ukraine and Georgia would be "an unnecessary offence" for Russia. NATO stated that Ukraine and Georgia would be admitted in the alliance and pledged to review the requests for MAP in December 2008. Russian President Vladimir Putin was in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
during the summit. At the conclusion of the summit on 4 April, Putin said that NATO's enlargement towards Russia "would be taken in Russia as a direct threat to the security of our country". Following the Bucharest summit, Russian hostility increased and Russia started to actively prepare for the invasion of Georgia.
Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff.
List
* Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (United States)
* Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia)
* Chief of General Staff (Afg ...
of the
Russian Armed Forces
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...
Yuri Baluyevsky
Army General Yury Nikolayevich Baluyevsky (russian: link=no, Юрий Николаевич Балуевский; born 9 January 1947 at Truskavets in the Ukrainian SSR) is the former First Deputy Minister of Defense and Chief of the General Staff ...
said on 11 April that Russia would carry out "steps of a different nature" in addition to military action to block NATO membership of former Soviet republics. General Baluyevsky admitted in 2012 that after President Putin had decided to attack Georgia prior to the May 2008 inauguration of
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev ( rus, links=no, Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been serving as the dep ...
as president of Russia, a military action was planned and explicit orders were issued in advance before August 2008. Russia aimed to stop Georgia's accession to NATO and also to bring about a "
regime change
Regime change is the partly forcible or coercive replacement of one government regime with another. Regime change may replace all or part of the state's most critical leadership system, administrative apparatus, or bureaucracy. Regime change may ...
".
Prelude
April–July 2008
![Georgia before August 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Georgia_before_August_2008.svg)
On 16 April 2008, official ties between the Russian authorities and the separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia were sanctioned by an
order
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
* Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...
of
Russian president
The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...
Vladimir Putin. The separatist-authored legislative documents and the separatist-accredited bodies were also recognised.
After a
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...
session on 23 April convened at Georgia's demand, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany stated in a declaration: "We call on the Russian Federation to revoke or not to implement its decision." However, this was labelled a "tall order" by
Vitaly Churkin
Vitaly Ivanovich Churkin ( rus, Вита́лий Ива́нович Чу́ркин, p=vʲɪˈtalʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ˈtɕurkʲɪn; 21 February 1952 – 20 February 2017) was a Russian diplomat and former child actor. Churkin served as Russia ...
, Russian Ambassador to the UN.
A Georgian
reconnaissance drone flying over Abkhazia was shot down by a Russian warplane on 20 April. However, Russia denied responsibility for the incident and Abkhazia claimed that an "L-39 aircraft of the Abkhaz Air Force" shot down the
UAV
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
.
An allegation of an attack by a NATO MiG-29 was made by the Russian Ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin. NATO Secretary General
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
Jakob Gijsbert "Jaap" de Hoop Scheffer ; born 3 April 1948) is a Dutch politician and diplomat of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Secretary General of NATO from January 2004 to August 2009.
De Hoop Scheffer ...
commented that "he'd eat his tie if it turned out that a NATO MiG-29 had magically appeared in Abkhazia and shot down a Georgian drone." On 26 May, a
United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia
The United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 858 in August 1993 to verify compliance with a 27 July 1993 ceasefire agreement between the Republic of Georgia and forces in Abk ...
(UNOMIG) inquiry concluded that the Russian warplane, either a MiG-29 "Fulcrum" or a Su-27 "Flanker", was responsible for the downing.
In late April, the Russian government said that Georgia was assembling 1,500 troops and policemen in the upper Kodori Gorge area and was planning to "invade" Abkhazia,
and that Russia would "retaliate" against Georgian offensive and had deployed more military in the separatist regions.
No boost in the Kodori Gorge or near the Abkhaz border by either party was confirmed by the UNOMIG.
The number of Russian peacekeepers deployed in Abkhazia was boosted to 2,542 in early May. But Russian troop levels remained under the cap of 3,000 troops imposed by a 1994 decision of CIS heads of state.
Georgia demonstrated video footage captured by a drone to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
allegedly proving that Russian forces used heavy weaponry in Abkhazia and were combat troops, rather than peacekeepers; Russia rejected the accusations.
On 15 May, the
United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...
passed a motion calling for the return of all exiled and uprooted people to Abkhazia. Russia opposed the Georgian-advocated motion. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the resolution was "a counterproductive move".
Russia deployed
railroad troops on 31 May to repair a rail line in Abkhazia. According to the Russian defence ministry, railroad troops were not armed. Georgia stated that the development was an "aggressive" act.
The
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
adopted a resolution on 5 June which condemned the deployment of Russian forces to Abkhazia. The resolution stated that the peacekeeping structure should be changed because Russia was no longer an unbiased player. Russian railroad troops started to withdraw from Abkhazia on 30 July after attending the inauguration of the railroad. The fixed railroad was used to transport military equipment by at least a part of the 9,000 Russian soldiers who entered Georgia from Abkhazia during the war.
In late June, Russian military expert
Pavel Felgenhauer
Pavel Eugenievich Felgenhauer (; born 6 December 1951) is a Russian military analyst known for his publications about Russia's political and military leadership.
Biography
Felgenhauer was born in 1951 in Moscow, the Soviet Union and graduated ...
predicted that Vladimir Putin would start a war against Georgia in Abkhazia and South Ossetia supposedly in August.
Aleksandr Dugin
Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin ( rus, Александр Гельевич Дугин; born 7 January 1962) is a Russian political philosopher, analyst, and strategist, who has been widely characterized as a fascist.
Born into a military intelligen ...
, known for his strong ties with the Russian military and intelligence, suggested at a press conference in South Ossetia on 30 June that the existence of Georgian enclaves in South Ossetia was the last remaining barrier to the recognition and South Ossetia had to solve this problem. He further stated that South Ossetia's independence would block Georgia's NATO membership and the recognition must take place before December 2008. The
Kavkaz Center
The Kavkaz Center (KC; russian: Кавказ-центр, Kavkaz-centr, lit=Caucasus Center) is a privately run website/portal which aims to be "a Chechen internet agency which is independent, international and Islamic". The stated mission of the s ...
reported in early July that
Chechen separatists
The Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (; ce, Нохчийн Республик Ичкери, Nóxçiyn Respublik Içkeri; russian: Чеченская Республика Ичкерия; abbreviated as "ChRI" or "CRI") was a ''de facto'' state that ...
had intelligence data that Russia was preparing a military operation against Georgia in August–September 2008 which mainly aimed to
expel Georgian forces from the Kodori Gorge; this would be followed by the expulsion of Georgian units and
population from South Ossetia.
In early July, the conditions in South Ossetia aggravated, when a South Ossetian separatist militia official was killed by blasts on 3 July and several hours later an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Dmitry Sanakoyev, the leader of the
Georgian-backed Ossetian government, wounded three police officers. On 7 July, four Georgian servicemen were captured by South Ossetian separatists. The next day, the Georgian law enforcement was ordered by the president to arrange the liberation of the soldiers. Four
Russian Air Force
" Air March"
, mascot =
, anniversaries = 12 August
, equipment =
, equipment_label =
, battles =
, decorations =
, bat ...
jets flew over South Ossetia on 8 July.
A scheduled visit of
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Uni ...
, the
US Secretary of State
The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
, to Georgia on the next day nearly coincided with the timing of the flight.
Georgia summoned back its ambassador to Russia after Russia admitted its jets had flown in Georgia's airspace to "let hot heads in Tbilisi cool down".
This was the first time in the 2000s that Russia had confessed to an overflight of Georgia.
On 15 July, the United States and Russia began two parallel military trainings in the Caucasus, though Russia denied that the identical timing was intentional. The joint US-Georgian exercise was called
Immediate Response 2008
According to United States European Command,
Immediate Response is an annual, bilateral security cooperation exercise conducted between U.S. and NATO and coalition partners. It is a longstanding Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed exercise focused on ...
and also included servicemen from Ukraine,
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
and
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
. A total of 1,630 servicemen, including 1,000 American troops, took part in the exercise, which concluded on 31 July.
Counter-insurgency
Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...
action was the focal point of the joint exercise. The Georgian brigade was trained to serve in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
.
The Russian exercise was named
Caucasus 2008 and units of the
North Caucasus Military District
The North Caucasus Military District was a military district of the Russian Armed Forces, which became in 2010 the Southern Military District and lately also included the Black Sea Fleet and Caspian Flotilla.
It comprised the Republic of Adygeya, ...
, including the 58th Army, took part. The exercise included training to aid peacekeeping forces stationed in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. During exercises, a pamphlet named "Soldier! Know your probable enemy!" was circulated among the Russian soldiers. The pamphlet described the Georgian Armed Forces. Russian troops stayed near the border with Georgia after the end of their exercise on 2 August, instead of going back to their
barracks
Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...
.
Later, Dale Herspring, an expert on Russian military affairs at
Kansas State University
Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...
, described the Russian exercise as "exactly what they executed in Georgia just a few weeks later
..a complete dress rehearsal."
Hostilities
Early August
At 8:00 am on 1 August, an
improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechan ...
detonated on the road near Tskhinvali near a Georgian police vehicle, wounding five police officers. In response, Georgian snipers fired on South Ossetian positions, killing four Ossetians and wounding seven. According to the majority of reports, the South Ossetians were responsible for instigating the bomb explosion which marked the opening of hostilities.
South Ossetian separatists began intensively shelling Georgian villages on 1 August. This caused Georgian peacekeepers and servicemen in the area to return fire.
Grenades and mortar fire were exchanged during the night of 1/2 August. The total Ossetian fatalities became six and the total wounded were now fifteen, among them several civilians; the Georgian casualties were six wounded civilians and one wounded policeman. According to the OSCE mission, the incident was the worst outbreak of violence since 2004. On 2–3 and again on 3–4 August, firing recommenced during the night. A 1992 ceasefire agreement was breached by Ossetian artillery attacks.
Nikolay Pankov, the Russian deputy defence minister, had a confidential meeting with the separatist authorities in Tskhinvali on 3 August. An evacuation of Ossetian women and children to Russia began on the same day.
According to researcher
Andrey Illarionov
Andrey Nikolayevich Illarionov (russian: Андре́й Никола́евич Илларио́нов, born 16 September 1961) is a Russian economist and former senior policy advisor to Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, from April 2000 ...
, the South Ossetian separatists evacuated more than 20,000 civilians, which represented more than 90 per cent of the civilian population of the future combat zone. On 4 August, South Ossetian president Eduard Kokoity said that about 300 volunteers had arrived from North Ossetia to help fight the Georgians and thousands more were expected from the North Caucasus. On 5 August, South Ossetian presidential
envoy
Envoy or Envoys may refer to:
Diplomacy
* Diplomacy, in general
* Envoy (title)
* Special envoy, a type of diplomatic rank
Brands
*Airspeed Envoy, a 1930s British light transport aircraft
*Envoy (automobile), an automobile brand used to sell Bri ...
to Moscow,
Dmitry Medoyev
Dmitry Nikolayevich Medoyev (russian: Дмитрий Николаевич Медоев), born 15 May 1960, is the former foreign minister of South Ossetia. Previously, he was the Ambassador of South Ossetia to the Russian Federation. Previous to ...
, declared that South Ossetia would start a "
rail war
The rail war (russian: Рельсовая война, ''Rel'sovaya Voyna''; be, Рэйкавая вайна, ''Rejkavaja Vajna''; ua, Рейкова війна, ''Reykova Viyna'') was the name for the actions of Soviet partisans in the Soviet ...
" against Georgia. The razing of the village of Nuli was ordered by South Ossetian interior minister
Mikhail Mindzaev Mikhail Mayramovich Mindzaev (also spelled Mindzayev, russian: Михаил Майрамович Миндзаев; born 28 September 1955) is a Russian police officer and government official. His notable tenure was Minister of Internal Affairs in th ...
. Georgian authorities organised a tour for diplomats and journalists to demonstrate the damage supposedly caused by separatists. That day, Russian
Ambassador-at-Large Yuri Popov declared that his country would be involved in the conflict on the side of South Ossetia. About 50 Russian journalists had come to Tskhnivali for "something to happen".
A pro-government Russian newspaper reported on 6 August: "
Don Cossacks
Don Cossacks (russian: Донские казаки, Donskie kazaki) or Donians (russian: донцы, dontsy) are Cossacks who settled along the middle and lower Don. Historically, they lived within the former Don Cossack Host (russian: До ...
prepare to fight in South Ossetia".
''
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
''Nezavisimaya Gazeta'' ( rus, Независимая газета, p=nʲɪzɐˈvʲisʲɪməjə ɡɐˈzʲetə, t=Independent Newspaper) is a Russian daily newspaper.
History and profile
''Nezavisimaya Gazeta'' was first published on 21 December ...
'' reported that Russian military was being deployed to the Georgian border on 6 August and that "there is no doubt that Russia thus demonstrates determination to protect its citizens in South Ossetia. Up until the operation to enforce peace is carried out."
On the evening of 6 August, an attempt by Saakashvili to contact the President of Russia about the conflict was curbed by the
Russian Foreign Ministry
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (MFA Russia; russian: Министерство иностранных дел Российской Федерации, МИД РФ) is the central government institution charged with lea ...
, which said: "the time for presidential negotiations has not yet arrived."
Mortar and artillery exchange between the South Ossetian and Georgian forces erupted in the afternoon of 6 August across almost the entire front line, which lasted until the dawn of 7 August. Exchanges resumed following a brief gap in the morning. South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity announced that the South Ossetian armed forces were ready to go on the offensive in the next few hours. At 14:00 on 7 August, two Georgian peacekeepers in Avnevi became casualties of Ossetian shelling.
At about 14:30, Georgian tanks, 122 mm howitzers and 203 mm self-propelled artillery began heading towards South Ossetia to dissuade separatists from additional attacks.
During the afternoon, OSCE monitors noted Georgian military traffic, including artillery, on roads near Gori.
In the afternoon, Georgian personnel left the
Joint Peacekeeping Force headquarters in Tskhinvali.
At 16:00,
Temur Iakobashvili
Temuri Yakobashvili ( ka, თემურ იაკობაშვილი, also transliterated as Temur Iakobashvili) (born September 3, 1967) is a Georgia (country), Georgian political scientist, diplomat, and politician, serving as State Mini ...
(the Georgian Minister for Reintegration) arrived in Tskhinvali for a previously arranged meeting with South Ossetians and Russian diplomat Yuri Popov;
however, Russia's emissary, who blamed a flat tire, did not appear;
and neither did the Ossetians.
One day earlier the South Ossetians rejected direct negotiations with Georgian authorities, demanding a meeting of the Joint Control Commission for Georgian–Ossetian Conflict Resolution.
Tbilisi had left the Commission in March, demanding that a new mediation scheme included the European Union, the OSCE and the Provisional Administrative Entity of South Ossetia.
Iakobashvili contacted General
Marat Kulakhmetov Marat Minyurovich Kulakhmetov ( tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөнир улы Коләхмәтов, russian: Марат Минюрович Кулахметов; born 1959 in Penza) is a Major General of the Russian Ground Forces, Russian Army and former com ...
(the Russian commander of the Joint Peacekeeping Force) who said that Ossetians could not be restrained by Russian peacekeepers and Georgia should implement a ceasefire.
"Nobody was in the streets – no cars, no people," Iakobashvili later told journalists.
At around 19:00, Georgian President Saakashvili announced a unilateral ceasefire and no-response order. The ceasefire reportedly held for about three hours. The separatists bombarded
Tamarasheni
Tamarasheni ( ka, თამარაშენი) is a former village in Georgia, within the territory controlled by separatist South Ossetia, some 0.5 km north of Tskhinvali.
Per Georgian administrative division the village is in Shida Kar ...
and Prisi. They razed Avnevi and a police building in
Kurta
A ''kurta'' is a loose collarless shirt or tunic worn in many regions of South Asia, (subscription required) Quote: "A loose shirt or tunic worn by men and women." Quote: "Kurta: a loose shirt without a collar, worn by women and men from South ...
, the centre of the Provisional Administrative Entity of South Ossetia. The escalated assaults forced Georgian civilians to flee their homes.
A high-ranking officer of the Georgian Ministry of Defence said late on 7 August that his country was going to "restore constitutional order" in response to the shelling.
Georgian Interior Ministry official later told Russian newspaper ''
Kommersant
''Kommersant'' (russian: Коммерсантъ, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia ...
'' on 8 August that after Ossetians had responded to the ceasefire by shelling, "it became clear" that South Ossetians wouldn't stop firing and that the Georgian casualties were 10 killed and 50 wounded.
According to Pavel Felgenhauer, the Ossetians intentionally provoked the Georgians, so Russia would use the Georgian response as a
pretext A pretext (adj: pretextual) is an excuse to do something or say something that is not accurate. Pretexts may be based on a half-truth or developed in the context of a misleading fabrication. Pretexts have been used to conceal the true purpose or rat ...
for premeditated military invasion. According to Felgenhauer's analysis, Russia could not wage the war against Georgia after August since the Caucasus mountains would be covered with snow already in October. Russian military was participating in the attacks on Georgian villages.
According to Georgian intelligence,
and
several Russian media reports, parts of the regular (non-peacekeeping) Russian Army had already moved to South Ossetian territory through the
Roki Tunnel
The Roki Tunnel (also called Roksky Tunnel, ka, როკის გვირაბი; ; russian: Рокский туннель) is a mountain tunnel of the Transkam road through the Greater Caucasus Mountains, north of the village Upper Roka. I ...
before the Georgian military operation. Even the state-controlled Russian TV aired Abkhazia's ''de facto'' president
Sergei Bagapsh
Sergei Uasyl-ipa Bagapsh, ka, სერგეი ბაგაფში, russian: Сергей Васильевич Багапш, translit=Sergey Vasilyevich Bagapsh (4 March 1949 – 29 May 2011) was an Abkhaz politician who served as th ...
on 7 August as saying: "I have spoken to the president of South Ossetia. It has more or less stabilized now. A battalion from the North Caucasus District has entered the area."
Georgian authorities did not announce Russian military incursion in public on 7 August since they relied on the Western guidance and did not want to aggravate tensions. The entrance of second batch of Russian military through the Roki Tunnel during the night of 7/8 August pressured Georgian president Saakashvili to respond militarily around 23:00 to check Russian all-out incursion near the Roki Tunnel before the Western response would be late.
Battle of Tskhinvali
![Tskhinval Yana Amelina 10](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Tskhinval_Yana_Amelina_10.jpg)
Georgian artillery launched
smoke bombs
A smoke bomb is a firework designed to produce a large amount of smoke upon ignition.
History
Early Japanese history saw the use of a rudimentary form of the smoke bomb. Explosives were common in Japan during the Mongol invasions of the 13t ...
into South Ossetia at 23:35 on 7 August. This was followed by a 15-minute intermission, which purportedly enabled the civilians to escape, before the Georgian forces began bombarding hostile positions. Georgian military intentionally targeted South Ossetian military objects, not civilian ones. Although Georgian military had pledged safety to the Russian peacekeepers for their neutrality, the Russian peacekeepers had to follow the Russian command to attack the Georgian troops.
Georgian forces started moving in the direction of Tskhinvali following several hours of bombardment and engaged South Ossetian forces and militia near Tskhinvali at 04:00 on 8 August, with Georgian tanks remotely shelling South Ossetian positions. An attempt to take the village of Kvaysa from the west of South Ossetia by Georgian special police forces was thwarted by South Ossetian troops occupying reinforced posts, and several Georgians were wounded. The Georgian 4th Brigade advanced on the left side of Tskhinvali early in the morning on 8 August; the 3rd Brigade advanced on the right side. The purpose of these actions was to advance to the north after capturing key positions. The Georgian troops would secure the Gupta bridge and the road to the Roki Tunnel, barring the Russian military from moving southward. By the morning, the South Ossetian authorities had reported that the Georgian shelling had killed at least 15 civilians.
Georgian forces, among them
special troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, entered Tskhinvali after taking the high points near the town. The centre of the town was reached by 1,500 Georgian infantrymen by 10:00.
The Russian air force began raiding targets inside South Ossetia and Georgia proper after 10:00 on 8 August. According to Russia, it suffered its first casualties at around 12:00 when two servicemen were killed and five injured following an attempt by the Georgian troops to storm the northern peacekeeping base in Tskhinvali. Georgia has stated that it only targeted Russian peacekeepers in self-defence, after coming under fire from them. Most of Tskhinvali and several villages had been secured by Georgian troops by the afternoon; however, they failed to blockade the Gupta bridge and the key roads linking Tshkinvali with the Roki Tunnel and the Russian military base in
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
. One Georgian diplomat told ''Kommersant'' on the same day that by taking control of Tskhinvali, Tbilisi wanted to demonstrate that Georgia wouldn't tolerate the killing of Georgian citizens.
By 15:00
MSK, an urgent session of
Security Council of Russia
The Security Council of the Russian Federation (SCRF or Sovbez; russian: Совет безопасности Российской Федерации (СБРФ), Sovet bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Federatsii (SBRF)) is a constitutional consultative bo ...
had been convened by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and Russia's options regarding the conflict had been discussed. Russia accused Georgia of "aggression" against South Ossetia.
Russia has stated it was defending both peacekeepers and South Ossetian civilians who were Russian citizens.
While Russia claimed that it had to conduct peacekeeping operations according to the international mandates, in reality such accords had only arranged the ceasefire observer status; according to political scientist Roy Allison, Russia could evacuate its peacekeepers if attacked.
At around 16:00 MSK, it became known that two heavy armoured columns of the
58th Army
The 58th Combined Arms Army (russian: 58-я общевойсковая армия) is an army of the Russian Ground Forces, headquartered at Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia-Alania, within Russia's Southern Military District. It was formed in 1941 as pa ...
passed the Roki Tunnel and Java and were on the road to Tskhinvali. According to ''Kommersant'', the column had begun moving towards South Ossetia at the same time as President Medvedev was giving a televised speech. At around 17:00 MSK, Russian tank columns surrounded Tskhinvali and began bombing the Georgian positions.
The Russian Air Force mounted attacks on Georgian infantry and artillery on 8 August, but suspended sorties for two days after taking early losses from anti-aircraft fire.
Georgian troops left the centre of the town in the evening. Military expert
Ralph Peters
Ralph Peters (born April 19, 1952) is a retired United States Army lieutenant colonel and author.
In addition to his non-fiction books, he has published eight novels under the pen name Owen Parry of which ''Honor's Kingdom'' received the Hamme ...
later noted that anyone "above the grade of
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
" knew that such a large-scale Russian "response" was not spontaneous since it was impossible "even to get one armored brigade over the
Caucasus Mountains
The Caucasus Mountains,
: pronounced
* hy, Կովկասյան լեռներ,
: pronounced
* az, Qafqaz dağları, pronounced
* rus, Кавка́зские го́ры, Kavkázskiye góry, kɐfˈkasːkʲɪje ˈɡorɨ
* tr, Kafkas Dağla ...
" without lengthy planning.
In the afternoon of 9 August, a Georgian effort to push deeper into Tskhinvali was repulsed with Georgian losses and they withdrew. According to the Georgian Defence Minister, the Georgian military had tried to push into Tskhinvali three times by 9 August. During the last attempt they were met with a serious counterattack, which Georgian officers described as "something like hell."
On the same day a Russian advance column, led by Lieutenant-General
Anatoly Khrulyov
Lieutenant General Anatoly Nikolayevich Khrulyov (russian: Анатолий Николаевич Хрулёв; Naro-Fominsk, 3 June 1955) is a Russian general who was the commander of the Russian 58th Army from 2006 until his retirement in 2010. ...
, was ambushed by Georgian special forces near Tskhinvali; Khrulyov was wounded in the leg. The number of Russian forces deployed in South Ossetia exceeded the number of Georgian fighters already by 9 August.
A ceasefire was unilaterally announced on 10 August by Georgian authorities, who stated an aim to pull Georgian troops out of South Ossetia. However, Russia did not embrace this truce offer. After the ceasefire agreement was negotiated by French president
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012.
Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...
on 12 August, 15:00 on 12 August was set as a deadline for the cessation of military action; however, Russian forces didn't stop pushing forward.
Bombing and occupation of Gori
Gori is an important city in the centre of Georgia,
located about from Tskhinvali. On 9 August, Russia indiscriminately bombed Gori, with targets ranging from a military garrison to several large civilian apartment buildings and a school. The Georgian government reported that the air raid had killed 60 civilians.
No less than 5 Georgian cities had been bombed by 9 August.
After Georgian troops had left Tskhinvali on 10 August, the Russians indiscriminately bombed the civilian areas in Gori on 11 August.
The Georgian forces withdrew from Gori on 11 August. A Georgian official said that the troops were ordered to secure Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.
By late 11 August, the majority of inhabitants and Georgian troops had abandoned Gori.
Georgian president Saakashvili stated that Russians had split Georgia into two by occupying an important intersection near Gori.
![Damaged wall of the residential building in downtown Gori after Russian bombardment with cluster bomb during 2008 war](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Damaged_wall_of_the_residential_building_in_downtown_Gori_after_Russian_bombardment_with_cluster_bomb_during_2008_war.jpg)
Russian bombers attacked Gori on 12 August,
killing seven people and wounding over thirty. Dutch TV journalist
Stan Storimans
Stanislaus N.I.M. "Stan" Storimans (January 8, 1969 – August 12, 2008) was a Dutch RTL television veteran cameraman. He had planned to publish a book describing his 20 years of reporting from hotspots like Afghanistan, Republic of the Congo ...
was among those killed and another foreign reporter was injured.
According to Georgian authorities, the Russians aimed at the city's administrative offices. The air raids set the post office and the
Gori University
Gori State Teaching University is a center for education and science in Shida Kartli in the Gori Municipality of Georgia (country), Georgia, it was established as a result of merging of two high education institutions: Gori State University and Ts ...
on fire.
The
Gori Military Hospital carrying a
Red Cross flag was struck by a rocket. The attack killed one doctor.
The Russian military was warning during the march towards Gori on 13 August that they
would not spare ethnic Georgian civilians in villages if the latter did not demonstrate signs of
surrender
Surrender may refer to:
* Surrender (law), the early relinquishment of a tenancy
* Surrender (military), the relinquishment of territory, combatants, facilities, or armaments to another power
Film and television
* ''Surrender'' (1927 film), an ...
. Escaping Georgians blamed Russian president Medvedev for their suffering because they, trusting Medvedev's statement on ceasefire, had remained in their homes before the Russian advance.
The Russian military captured Gori on 13 August.
The destruction of Georgian military bases began.
Major General
Vyacheslav Borisov
Vyacheslav Nikolaevich Borisov (russian: Вячеслав Николаевич Борисов: January 12, 1955 – November 4, 2021) was a Russian major-general. He took part in the 2008 Russo-Georgian War as a commanding officer in South Ossetia. ...
, the commander of the Russian occupying troops,
stated on 14 August that the
Georgian police and Russian forces were in charge of Gori together. He also said that Russian troops would begin leaving Gori in two days. Combined guard efforts by the Russian Army and Georgian police in Gori soon broke down.
The next day, Russian forces pushed to about from Tbilisi, the nearest during the war, and stopped in
Igoeti
Igoeti or Igoet'i (In Georgian: იგოეთი) is a village in Georgia in the region of Shida Kartli. It housed 559 people in 2014 and has one river running through it.
History
Igoeti was founded in the twelfth (XII) century. Igoeti is ...
at the same time as Condoleezza Rice was received by Saakashvili.
In 2014, Anatoly Khrulyov, the commander of the 58th Army, said that Russian troops had to act in accordance with operational objective and plan issued before 8 August 2008. If Khrulyov had not contacted the
General Staff
A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...
during the war and received new orders, the 58th Army would have taken Tbilisi.
The humanitarian conditions in Gori by 16 August was assessed as "desperate" by the United Nations.
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
(HRW) reported that following Russian takeover of Georgian areas, Georgians from Gori and the adjacent villages reported South Ossetian militias
pillaging
Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...
and assaulting Georgian properties as well as abducting civilians.
New checkpoints were erected by the Russian forces on the Tbilisi-Gori road on 17 August. South Ossetian forces occupied
Akhalgori
Akhalgori ( ka, ახალგორი, os, Ленингор Leningor) is a town in Georgia, (in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region according to the official administrative division of Georgia). The name Akhalgori is the original historical name of th ...
and one fighter said that "It will be part of an independent country within the Russian Federation." ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' commented that Moscow's apparent plan to recreate Greater South Ossetia was coming to fruition. ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' reported from Gori on 18 August that Russian troops had reportedly told Georgian civilians fleeing South Ossetia: "Putin has given us an order that everyone must be either shot or forced to leave".
The occupation lasted until 22 August, when Russian troops departed and Georgian police re-entered the city. Georgia's
principal highway connecting east with west was now free for transit.
Abkhaz front
![Mirazh2007](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Mirazh2007.jpg)
A naval confrontation occurred between Russian and Georgian vessels on 10 August. According to the
Russian Ministry of Defence
The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (russian: Министерство обороны Российской Федерации, Минобороны России, informally abbreviated as МО, МО РФ or Minoboron) is the govern ...
, the Russian fleet sank one Georgian ship after Georgian
boats
A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size, shape, cargo or passenger capacity, or its ability to carry boats.
Small boats are typically found on inl ...
had attacked the Russian Navy ships. The Russian patrol ship ''Mirazh'' was probably responsible for the sinking. The Georgian coast was blockaded by vessels of the Russian
Black Sea Fleet
Chernomorskiy flot
, image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet
, dates = May 13, ...
on 10 August.
This was first activity since
1945
1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
Januar ...
for the Black Sea Fleet, which had probably departed from
Sevastopol
Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...
before full-scale hostilities between Russia and Georgia began.
Abkhaz forces opened a second front by attacking the Kodori Gorge, held by Georgia.
Abkhaz artillery and aircraft began a bombardment against Georgian troops in the upper Kodori Gorge on 9 August.
Three days later, a military offensive against the Kodori Gorge was officially initiated by Abkhaz separatists.
Abkhaz defence officer said that Georgian forces were driven out of the Kodori Gorge. Although he claimed that Russians did not participate in the battle, Russian military traffic headed for the gorge was witnessed by an
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
correspondent. Casualties were light on both sides; Abkhaz fighters accidentally killed one of their comrades,
and two Georgian soldiers were also killed. About 2,000 people living in the Kodori Gorge fled.
Russian forces advanced into western Georgia from Abkhazia on 11 August.
This marked the opening of another front. Russian troops captured the police buildings in
Zugdidi
Zugdidi ( ka, ზუგდიდი; xmf, ზუგდიდი or ზუგიდი) is a city in the western Georgian historical province of Samegrelo (Mingrelia). It is situated in the north-west of that province. The city is located 318 kilom ...
in spite of earlier Russian official claims of not intending to expand assault to Georgia proper.
Russian forces arrived in the town of
Senaki
Senaki ( ka, სენაკი; xmf, სანაკი) is a town in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region, western Georgia. It is located at around between the rivers Tekhura/i and Tsivi, at an elevation of 28–38 meters above sea level. Senaki is ...
that day and took a military base there.
Occupation of Poti
Poti
Poti ( ka, ფოთი ; Mingrelian: ფუთი; Laz: ჶაში/Faşi or ფაში/Paşi) is a port city in Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti in the west of the country. Built near t ...
is the crucial seaport of Georgia on the Black Sea and serves as an essential entrance for Transcaucasia and the landlocked Central Asia.
Russian aircraft attacked the town of Poti on 8 August, causing a two-day shutdown of the seaport.
Russia positioned ships in the vicinity of Poti and other Georgian ports on 10 August 2008.
The next day, Georgian and Russian representatives said that Russian troops were in Poti. However, Russia claimed it had only sent a task force for surveying the area. On 13 August, six Georgian
watercraft
Any vehicle used in or on water as well as underwater, including boats, ships, hovercraft and submarines, is a watercraft, also known as a water vessel or waterborne vessel. A watercraft usually has a propulsive capability (whether by sail, ...
were submerged by Russian troops in Poti.
Anatoliy Nogovitsyn
Anatoliy Alekseevich Nogovitsyn (russian: Анатолий Алексеевич Ноговицын; 29 April 1952 – 5 November 2019) was a Russian military official. He served as the Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russi ...
, Russian deputy chief of the General staff, denied the Russian presence in Poti the following day. One day after Russia's declaration of the beginning of the withdrawal from Georgia, 70 Russian soldiers moved into the seaport on the morning of 19 August.
Russian soldiers took twenty-one Georgian troops prisoner and grabbed five US Humvees in Poti, taking them to a Russian-occupied military base in Senaki.
''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' said that Russian actions in Poti constituted an additional attack on the Georgian economy.
Russian military was plundering and damaging properties during their presence in Poti, even ransacking toilets.
Bombing of Tbilisi and surroundings
During the fighting in South Ossetia, the Russian Air Force repeatedly attacked Tbilisi and its surrounding areas. On 8 August, the Georgian Interior Ministry reported that
Vaziani Military Base near the city was hit by two bombs. Prior to the war, the bombed base near Tbilisi had housed the Russian military before the government of Georgia forced their withdrawal. ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' described this bombing as "Russia's revenge".
A Georgian military airstrip in
Marneuli
Marneuli ( ka, მარნეული , az, Sarvan) is a town in the Kvemo Kartli region of southern Georgia and administrative center of Marneuli Municipality that borders neighboring Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Toponymy
According to Georgian so ...
was attacked and three persons were killed. The Georgian government vacated their offices on 9 August. Georgian authorities reported on 9 August that Russian air attacks had targeted the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline, but missed.
Reporters for ''Reuters'' in Tbilisi reported hearing three explosions in the early-morning hours of 10 August and a Georgian Interior Ministry representative said that three bombs were dropped on
Tbilisi International Airport
Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi International Airport ( ka, თბილისის შოთა რუსთაველის სახელობის საერთაშორისო აეროპორტი) , formerly ''Novo Alexeyevka In ...
by Russian warplanes. A
military manufacturing plant near the airport was also attacked by Russia that day.
A civilian
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
station in Tbilisi was bombed the following day.
Although an end to hostilities was declared on 12 August, Russian warplanes did not stop dropping bombs in Georgia throughout 12 August.
''The Wall Street Journal'' reported on 14 August that a reporter had witnessed 45 craters near the intersection of Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline and
Baku–Supsa Pipeline
The Baku–Supsa Pipeline (also known as the Western Route Export Pipeline and Western Early Oil Pipeline) is an long oil pipeline, which runs from the Sangachal Terminal near Baku to the Supsa terminal in Georgia. It transports oil from the Az ...
south of Tbilisi.
Media and cyber war
The war was accompanied by a media battle between Russia and Georgia.
The Russian military took Russian journalists to the combat zone to report news discrediting Georgia and portraying Russia as the saviour of Russian citizens in the conflict zone. Russia also aired records on TV supporting its actions which had a strong effect on the local populations of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. For the first time, a Russian Armed Forces spokesman was provided by the Russian authorities to give TV interviews about the war. Despite these tactics and domestic success, the Russian information operation against Georgia was not successful internationally. In response to the information war, the Georgian government halted the broadcasting of Russian television channels in Georgia and blocked access to Russian websites. The information skirmishes between Georgia and Russia continued after armed hostilities had ended.
According to political scientist Svante Cornell, the Kremlin spent millions in an international information campaign to blame Georgia for the war;
however, there is evidence,
including some in Russian media, that Russia actually started the war.
During the war, hackers attacked Georgian government and news websites and disabled host servers. Some Russian news websites were also attacked. Some experts noted this as the first time in history that a notable cyberattack and an actual military engagement happened at the same time.
Ceasefire agreement
![Medvedev-Sarkozy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Medvedev-Sarkozy.jpg)
On 12 August, Russian President Medvedev announced the cessation of the "
peace enforcement Peace enforcement is the use of military force to compel peace in a conflict, generally against the will of combatants. To do this, it generally requires more military force than peacekeeping operations. The United Nations, through its Security Coun ...
" operation in Georgia. "The operation has achieved its goal, security for peacekeepers and civilians has been restored. The aggressor was punished, suffering huge losses."
Later that day he met French President Nicolas Sarkozy (who held the rotating
EU Council presidency) and approved a six-point proposal.
The proposal originally had four points, but Russia firmly requested to add two more. Georgia requested that the additions be parenthesised; Russia objected and Sarkozy prevailed upon Saakashvili to accept the agreement.
[ The translation of th]
six points
is by the ''Times''. According to Sarkozy and Saakashvili, a sixth point in the Sarkozy proposal was removed with Medvedev's consent.
On 14 August, South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity and Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh also endorsed the plan. The following day Condoleezza Rice travelled to Tbilisi, where Saakashvili signed the document in her presence. On 16 August, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the agreement.
The plan embodied the following statutes (dismissed additions are parenthesised):
After the ceasefire was signed, hostilities did not immediately end. Noting that civilians were fleeing before advancing Russian armour, troops and mercenaries, a reporter for ''The Guardian'' wrote on 13 August that "the idea there is a ceasefire is ridiculous".
Aftermath
Russian withdrawal
On 17 August, Medvedev announced that Russian military would start to pull out of Georgia the following day.
Prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
were swapped by the two countries on 19 August. A Georgian official said that although his country swapped five Russian soldiers for fifteen Georgians, among them two non-combatants, Georgia suspected that Russia kept two more Georgians. On 22 August, Russian forces withdrew from
Igoeti
Igoeti or Igoet'i (In Georgian: იგოეთი) is a village in Georgia in the region of Shida Kartli. It housed 559 people in 2014 and has one river running through it.
History
Igoeti was founded in the twelfth (XII) century. Igoeti is ...
and the Georgian police proceeded in the direction of Gori. Russia claimed that withdrawal of Russian forces was finished; however, Russian checkpoints stayed near Gori and two Russian lookout stations stayed near Poti.
On 8 September, Sarkozy and Medvedev signed another agreement on a Russian pullback from Georgia. After meeting with the French president, Medvedev said the withdrawal depended on assurances that Georgia would not use force; Russian forces would withdraw "from the zones adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia to the line preceding the start of hostilities". However, a military withdrawal from South Ossetia and Abkhazia was not proclaimed. On 13 September, Russian troops began withdrawing from western Georgia and by 11:00 Moscow Time, the posts near Poti were abandoned. Withdrawals from
Senaki
Senaki ( ka, სენაკი; xmf, სანაკი) is a town in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region, western Georgia. It is located at around between the rivers Tekhura/i and Tsivi, at an elevation of 28–38 meters above sea level. Senaki is ...
and
Khobi
Khobi ( ka, ხობი) is a town in western Georgia with a population of 4,242. The settlement of Khobi acquired the status of a town in 1981 and currently functions as an administrative center of the Khobi District within the Samegrelo-Zem ...
also took place. Russian forces pulled back from the buffer areas bordering Abkhazia and South Ossetia on 8 October 2008 and the European Union monitoring mission in Georgia would now oversee the areas.
Russia continued to maintain a single station in the border village of
Perevi
Perevi ( ka, პერევი) is a village located in the Imereti region of Georgia.
From 2008 to 2010 it was occupied by Russia as part of the Russo-Georgian War
The 2008 Russo-Georgian WarThe war is known by a variety of other names, inclu ...
. On 12 December 2008, Russian forces withdrew; eight hours later they re-entered the village and Georgian police withdrew after the Russians warned they would fire. Russian forces then set up three stations in the village. On 18 October 2010, all Russian forces in Perevi withdrew to South Ossetia and Georgian soldiers entered.
On 9 September 2008, Russia announced that Russian forces in South Ossetia and Abkhazia would remain under bilateral agreements with their respective ''de facto'' governments. Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (russian: Сергей Викторович Лавров, ; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat and politician who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Foreign Minister of Russia since 2004.
...
said that a Russian deployment in Abkhazia and South Ossetia would prove decisive in preventing Georgia from recovering territories.
Georgia considers Abkhazia and South Ossetia
Russian-occupied territories
Russian-occupied territories are lands under Russian military occupation. The term is applied to territories in Georgia ( Abkhazia and South Ossetia), Moldova (Transnistria), and parts of Ukraine.
Additionally, the four southernmost Kuril Isl ...
. In November 2011, the European Parliament passed a resolution acknowledging Abkhazia and South Ossetia as occupied Georgian territories.
Recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Russia
![Dmitry Medvedev 17 September 2008-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Dmitry_Medvedev_17_September_2008-1.jpg)
On 25 August 2008, the Russian parliament passed a motion, with no one voting against. The motion called for the
diplomatic recognition
Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral declarative political act of a state that acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state (may be also a recognized state). Recognition can be accorde ...
of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by President Medvedev. On 26 August, Medvedev issued orders recognising the two states, saying that recognising the independence of the two entities "represents the only possibility to save human lives."
The recognition by Russia was condemned by the United States, France, the secretary-general of the
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the
OSCE
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...
chairman, NATO and the
G7 on the grounds that it violated Georgia's territorial integrity, United Nations Security Council resolutions and the ceasefire agreement. In response to Russia's action, the Georgian government severed diplomatic relations with Russia.
Russia sought approval for its recognition from the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a Eurasian politics, political, economy, economic and security organization. It is the world's largest regional organization in terms of geography, geographic scope and world population, population, c ...
. However, because of anxiety about secessionist areas in SCO states, especially in China, the organisation did not endorse recognition.
Russian military presence
A direct result of the war has been the increased and emboldened Russian military presence in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. While Russian armed forces were present in both regions before the outbreak of the war, in the capacity of peacekeeping forces since the civil wars in the 1990s, this was limited to 500 servicemen in South Ossetia (JPKF) and 1,600 in Abkhazia (
CISPKF), with the latter being expanded to over 2,000 in the months leading to the 2008 war. With these mechanisms becoming obsolete after the 2008 war, the Russian recognition of the independence of both regions was a prerequisite to legitimise the post-war stay of Russian armed forces with the conclusion of "bilateral" military cooperation and integration agreements with the newly recognised "states".
From 2009 onwards, the Russian Federation expanded existing military infrastructure in both regions. First the
4th Guards Military Base
The 4th Guards Military Base () is a sizable overseas military base of the Russian Armed Forces stationed in the disputed territory of South Ossetia. Russia considers South Ossetia to be an independent state and justifies its military deployment i ...
in South Ossetia and the
7th Military Base
The 7th Military Base (; ) is a sizable overseas military base of the Russian Armed Forces stationed in Bombora in the partially recognized Republic of Abkhazia. The base is subordinate to the command of the 49th Combined Arms Army and the Sout ...
in Abkhazia were established, formalised in an agreement valid for 49 years. Then, Russia started the construction of border guard bases under the command of the Russian FSB Border Guard Service to demarcate and "protect the state border" of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In total more than 30 of these so called "militarized border guard bases" have been constructed near the boundary line of both regions with Tbilisi controlled Georgia. In each region an estimated 3,500 Russian military servicemen and around 1,500 FSB personnel are deployed. Georgia considers the two regions occupied by Russia.
International monitors
The mandate of the OSCE mission in Georgia expired on 1 January 2009, after Russia refused to support its continuation. OSCE monitors had been denied access to South Ossetia since the war. The mandate of the
UNOMIG
The United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 858 in August 1993 to verify compliance with a 27 July 1993 ceasefire agreement between the Georgia (country), Republic of Georgi ...
ended on 16 June 2009; its extension was also blocked by Russia, which argued that the mandate did not properly reflect Russia's position on recognition of Abkhazia's independence. According to UN mission head
Johan Verbeke
Johan Verbeke (born 9 July 1951) is a Belgian diplomat, the former Belgian Ambassador to the United States until 2016.
Early life
Verbeke holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the Yale Law School and a Diplôme d’Etudes Supérieures Européen ...
, about 60,000 ethnic Georgians in Abkhazia became vulnerable after the mission's end.
Since October 2008 the
European Union Monitoring Mission
The European Union (EU) has undertaken a number of overseas missions and operations, drawing on civilian and military capabilities, in several countries across three continents (Europe, Africa and Asia), as part of its Common Security and Def ...
(EUMM) monitors the Administrative Boundary Lines of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Although the mission is mandated to operate in the entire territory of Georgia, it is not admitted into South Ossetia and Abkhazia by the local de facto authorities. Besides monitoring the mission is also involved in confidence building and incident mediation by providing an incident hotline. As of December 2021, 220 EUMM monitors from 26 EU member states operate in Georgia based in 3 Field Offices and the Tbilisi Headquarters, while 2 support staff operate from
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
.
Geopolitical impact
![Baku pipelines](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Baku_pipelines.svg)
The 2008 war was the first time since the
fall of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
that the Russian military had been used against an independent state, demonstrating Russia's willingness to use military force to attain its political objectives.
Robert Kagan
Robert Kagan (; born September 26, 1958) is an American neoconservative scholar, critic of U.S. foreign policy, and a leading advocate of liberal interventionism.
A co-founder of the neoconservative Project for the New American Century, he is a ...
argued that "Historians will come to view Aug. 8, 2008, as a turning point" because it "marked
the official return of history". The failure of the Western security organisations to react swiftly to Russia's attempt to violently revise the borders of an OSCE country revealed its deficiencies. The division between
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
an and
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
an states also became apparent over the relationship with Russia. Ukraine and other ex-Soviet countries received a clear message from the Russian leadership that the possible accession to NATO would cause a foreign incursion and the break-up of the country. Effective takeover of Abkhazia was also one of Russia's geopolitical goals.
The war in Georgia showed Russia's
assertiveness
Assertiveness is the quality of being self-assured and confident without being aggressive to defend a right point of view or a relevant statement. In the field of psychology and psychotherapy, it is a skill that can be learned and a mode of communi ...
in revising international relations and undermining the
hegemony
Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states. In Ancient Greece (8th BC – AD 6th ), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of the ''hegemon'' city-state over oth ...
of the United States. Shortly after the war, Russian president Medvedev unveiled a five-point Russian foreign policy. The
Medvedev Doctrine stated that "protecting the lives and dignity of our citizens, wherever they may be, is an unquestionable priority for our country". The presence of Russian citizens in foreign countries would form a doctrinal foundation for invasion. Medvedev's statement on the existence of territories with Russian "privileged interests" attached to them underlined Russia's particular stake in the
post-Soviet states
The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
and the fact that Russia would feel endangered by subversion of local Russia-friendly administrations.
The war also affected Georgia's ongoing and future memberships in international organisations. On 12 August 2008 the country proclaimed that it would quit the Commonwealth of Independent States, which it held responsible for not avoiding the war. Its departure became effective in August 2009. The war hindered Georgia's prospects for joining NATO for the foreseeable future.
Medvedev stated in November 2011 that NATO would have accepted former Soviet republics if Russia had not attacked Georgia. "If you ... had faltered back in 2008, the geopolitical situation would be different now," Medvedev told the officers of a
Vladikavkaz
Vladikavkaz (russian: Владикавка́з, , os, Дзæуджыхъæу, translit=Dzæwdžyqæw, ;), formerly known as Ordzhonikidze () and Dzaudzhikau (), is the capital city of the North Ossetia-Alania, Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Ru ...
military base.
According to academic Martin Malek, western countries did not feel it was necessary to aggravate tensions with Russia over "tiny and insignificant" Georgia. He wrote in the ''
Caucasian Review of International Affairs
''Caucasian Review of International Affairs'' was a quarterly peer-reviewed online academic journal covering the countries of the Caucasus and the issues of contemporary international relations. It was established in 2006 as the ''Caucasian Journ ...
'' that Western policy makers did not want to alienate Russia because its support was necessary to solve "international problems".
The May 2015 report by the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament stated that "the reaction of the EU to Russia's aggression towards, and violation of the territorial integrity of, Georgia in 2008 may have encouraged
Russia to act in a similar way in Ukraine". The
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
brought the memories of the Russo-Georgian War again into a broader geopolitical focus. In an opinion piece published in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' on 6 March 2022, the incumbent
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
stated that Russia's actions in Georgia in 2008 was one of the lessons of the past that the West has failed to learn.
Humanitarian impact and war crimes
![Kekhvi on fire](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Kekhvi_on_fire.jpg)
Human Rights Watch (HRW) states that all parties to the war seriously breached
international laws governing war and caused many fatalities among civilians. HRW reported that no proof of intentional attacks on non-combatants by Georgian troops had been discovered. The South Ossetian parliament and several schools and nurseries were used as military posts by South Ossetian troops and volunteer militias and targeted by Georgian artillery fire. Georgia stated that its strikes only intended to "neutralize firing positions from where Georgian positions were being targeted". HRW documented witness accounts of the usage of civilian objects by South Ossetian fighters. Such usage made civilian objects permissible military aims, and HRW concluded that South Ossetian fighters put non-combatant population at risk by setting up military positions near or in civilian structures. Georgia was responsible for the indiscriminate use of force by using inaccurate weapons to target military targets in civilian areas.
Russia deliberately attacked fleeing civilians in South Ossetia and the Gori district of Georgia.
Russian warplanes bombed civilian population centres in Georgia proper and villages of ethnic Georgians in South Ossetia.
Armed militias engaged in looting,
burning
Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combusti ...
and
kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...
s. Attacks by militias compelled Georgian civilians to run away.
The use of M85S
cluster bombs
A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehicl ...
by the Georgians and RBK 250 cluster bombs by the Russians caused fatalities among civilians. Georgia reportedly used cluster munitions twice to hit non-combatants escaping via the important Dzara road and confessed attacking Russian forces and the vicinity of the Roki Tunnel by cluster bombs.
Russia denied using cluster bombs.
![Tserovani IDPs settlement, Georgia (02)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Tserovani_IDPs_settlement%2C_Georgia_%2802%29.jpg)
HRW reported that during the war, ethnic-Georgian villages in South Ossetia were set on fire and pillaged by South Ossetian militias. This impeded the comeback of 20,000 uprooted people after the conflict.
According to the
Memorial society
Memorial ( rus, Мемориал, p=mʲɪmərʲɪˈaɫ) is an international human rights organisation, founded in Russia during the fall of the Soviet Union to study and examine the human rights violations and other crimes committed under Joseph ...
, the villages of
Kekhvi,
Kurta
A ''kurta'' is a loose collarless shirt or tunic worn in many regions of South Asia, (subscription required) Quote: "A loose shirt or tunic worn by men and women." Quote: "Kurta: a loose shirt without a collar, worn by women and men from South ...
, Achabeti, Tamarasheni, Eredvi, Vanati and
Avnevi were "virtually fully burnt down".
South Ossetian president Eduard Kokoity said in an interview that Georgian villages had been demolished and no Georgian refugees would be allowed to return. The Georgian civilians, who resided in the
Akhalgori district and were willing to live in South Ossetia, were coerced into obtaining a Russian passport. The
EU Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
said it was likely that during the hostilities and in the aftermath of the war, an ethnic cleansing of Georgians was committed in South Ossetia.
Russia accused Georgia of committing "
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
" in South Ossetia.
[ Russian authorities initially claimed that up to 2,000 ethnic Ossetian civilians of Tskhinvali were killed by Georgian forces; according to Russia, the reason for the Russian involvement in the conflict in Georgia was this large number of fatalities.] Public opinion among Ossetians was impacted by claims of high casualties; according to HRW, some Ossetian civilians said in interviews that they approved of burning and pillaging of Georgian villages because of the "thousands of civilian casualties in South Ossetia" announced by Russian television. In December 2008, the figures were revised down to a total of 162 South Ossetian casualties by the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation.
Georgia and South Ossetia have filed complaints about alleged war crimes committed by the other side with international courts, including the International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals ...
, the International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...
, and the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...
.
The war displaced a 192,000 people including both Ossetians and Georgians. Many were able to go back to their homes after the war, but a year later around 30,000 ethnic Georgians were still uprooted. As of May 2014, 20,272 persons were still displaced, with their return being blocked by ''de facto'' authorities. The International Criminal Court concluded its investigation in the Situation in Georgia in December 2022, delivering arrest warrants for three ''de facto'' South Ossetian officials believed to bear responsibility for war crimes committed during the 2008 war — Mikhail Mindzaev Mikhail Mayramovich Mindzaev (also spelled Mindzayev, russian: Михаил Майрамович Миндзаев; born 28 September 1955) is a Russian police officer and government official. His notable tenure was Minister of Internal Affairs in th ...
, Gamlet Guchmazov and David Sanakoev, respectively, holding the positions of Minister of Internal Affairs, head of a detention centre in Tskhinvali
Tskhinvali ( ka, ცხინვალი ) or Tskhinval ( os, Цхинвал, Чъреба, Tskhinval, Chreba, ; rus, Цхинва́л(и), r=Tskhinvál(i), ) is the capital of the disputed ''de facto'' independent Republic of South Ossetia, int ...
, and Presidential Representative for Human Rights of South Ossetia, at the relevant time. The fourth suspect, Russian general Vyacheslav Borisov, was not indicted as he had died in 2021.
Reactions
International reactions
Russian actions during the war were heavily criticised by several Western countries
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. :
* Ukraine – On 5 August 2008, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine ( uk, Міністерство закордонних справ України) is the ministry of the Ukrainian government that oversees the foreign relations of Ukraine. The head of the ministry is the ...
expressed its concern over recent incidents in the South Ossetian conflict zone and that the start of the conflict demonstrated ineffectiveness of the existing (Russian-dominated) peacekeeping format. After Russia's full-scale invasion of Georgia, President Yushchenko suggested that the contract between Ukraine and Russia regarding the Sevastopol
Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...
naval base would not be extended in 2017. Ukrainians suspected that pro-Russian Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
would become a cause for a possible future military incursion by Russia, which eventually did take place in 2014, in the form of an annexation of Crimea, which in 2022 escalated into a full-scale invasion of the whole territory of Ukraine.
* Sweden – On 8 August 2008, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between coun ...
Carl Bildt
Nils Daniel Carl Bildt (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994. He was the leader of the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999. Bildt served as Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs ...
said that the crisis was due to provocations from the South Ossetian side and that Georgian forces were trying to restore the constitutional order. On 9 August, Bildt compared Russia's reason for going to war with Georgia to Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
's actions, "No state has the right to intervene militarily in the territory of another state simply because there are individuals there with a passport issued by that state or who are nationals of the state. Attempts to apply such a doctrine have plunged Europe into war in the past... And we have reason to remember how Hitler used this very doctrine little more than half a century ago to undermine and attack substantial parts of central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...
".
* United Kingdom – British Foreign Secretary David Miliband
David Wright Miliband (born 15 July 1965) is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the International Rescue Committee and a former British Labour Party politician. He was the Foreign Secretary from 2007 to 2010 and the Member of P ...
said on 9 August, "Russia has extended the fighting today well beyond South Ossetia, attacking the Georgian port of Poti, and the town of Gori, while Abkhaz forces have been shelling Georgian positions in the Upper Kodori valley. I deplore this."
* United States – US president George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
said on late 11 August, "Russia has invaded a sovereign neighbouring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century." Bush also said, "There's evidence that Russian forces may soon begin bombing the civilian airport in the capital city." Bush urged Russia to sign the EU-mediated ceasefire agreement, otherwise Russia would "jeopardise" its standing with the West. Although the Bush administration contemplated a military reaction to defend Georgia, it decided against it so as to not provoke a conflict with Russia. Instead, the US sent humanitarian assistance to Georgia on military aircraft. Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
candidate for Vice President of the United States
The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...
warned in October 2008 that the election of Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
would cause a new conflict involving Russia: "After the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama’s reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia’s Putin to invade Ukraine next." Indeed, the Russo-Ukrainian War
The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatist forces in Donbas, Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since Feb ...
began during Obama's term and escalated to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine during Obama's vice-president Joe Biden's tenure as the president.
* Poland – The presidents of Poland, Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
, Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
, Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
and the prime minister of Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
(Lech Kaczyński
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010. Before his tenure as president, he prev ...
, Valdas Adamkus
Valdas Adamkus (; born Voldemaras Adamkavičius; 3 November 1926) is a Lithuanian-American politician, diplomat and civil engineer. He served as the 5th and 7th President of Lithuania from 1998 to 2003 and again from 2004 to 2009.
Adamkus' ...
, Toomas Hendrik Ilves
Toomas Hendrik Ilves (; born 26 December 1953) is an Estonian politician who served as the fourth president of Estonia from 2006 until 2016.
Ilves worked as a diplomat and journalist, and he was the leader of the Social Democratic Party in the ...
, Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ( uk, Віктор Андрійович Ющенко, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010.
As an informal leader of th ...
and Ivars Godmanis
Ivars Godmanis (born 27 November 1951) is a Latvian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Latvia from 1990 to 1993 and again from 2007 to 2009. He was the first Prime Minister of Latvia after the country restored its independence from t ...
), who met with Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili
Mikheil Saakashvili ( ka, მიხეილ სააკაშვილი ; uk, Міхеіл Саакашвілі ; born 21 December 1967) is a Georgian and Ukrainian politician and jurist. at Kaczyński's initiative, appeared at a 12 August 2008 Tbilisi rally held in front of the parliament which was attended by nearly 150,000 people. The crowd responded enthusiastically to the Polish president's speech, chanting "Poland, Poland", "Friendship, Friendship" and "Georgia, Georgia".
* Hungary – Hungarian opposition leader Viktor Orbán
Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian politician who has served as prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has presided over Fidesz since 1993, with a brief break between 20 ...
drew parallels between the Russian intervention and the crushing of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...
.
France and Germany took an intermediate position, abstaining from naming a guilty party:
* European Union – On 8 August, France (who held the rotating Council presidency of the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
) announced that the EU and the US would send a joint delegation to negotiate a ceasefire.
* Germany – German chancellor Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...
conveyed her concern about the humanitarian situation in Georgia and urged to cease war.
A few leaders supported Russia's position:
* Italy – Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs is the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Italy. The office was one of the positions which Italy inherited from the Kingdom of Sardinia where it was the most ancient ministry of the government: thi ...
Franco Frattini
Franco Frattini (14 March 1957 – 24 December 2022) was an Italian politician and magistrate. From January to December 2022, Frattini served as president of the Council of State.
Frattini previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from ...
said, "We cannot create an anti-Russia coalition in Europe, and on this point we are close to Putin's position." He emphasised that Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...
were near partners.
* Belarus – President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian language, Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian language, Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лука ...
said on 19 August, "Russia acted calmly, wisely and beautifully."
The EU report
In November 2008, Georgia called on the EU to conduct an independent inquiry who was to blame for the conflict. Heidi Tagliavini
Heidi Tagliavini (born 1950 in Basel) is a Swiss former diplomat noted for her service with international aid and peacekeeping missions; a 2003 profile in the monthly magazine of the '' Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' called her "Switzerland's outstandin ...
, a national of Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
(non-EU state), oversaw the making of the EU-sponsored report which was published in September 2009. The report stated that open hostilities started "... with a large-scale Georgian military operation against the town of Tskhinvali and the surrounding areas, launched in the night of 7 to 8 August 2008", This conclusion was widely reported on by international media. However, the report also noted "... any explanation of the origins of the conflict cannot focus solely on the artillery attack on Tskhinvali in the night of 7/8 August", since "... it was only the culminating point of a long period of increasing tensions, provocations and incidents", and there was "... no way to assign overall responsibility for the conflict to one side alone." The report said it "is not in a position" to consider the Georgian claims of the Russian invasion before 8 August to be substantiated enough, while recognising reports in Russian media which indicated Russian troops and equipment which did not fall under the peacekeeping mandate were already present on the southern side of the Caucasus range, in South Ossetia. The report also stated that it could not claim "veracity or completeness in an absolute sense", and could not give "total assurance that there are no mistakes or omissions".
The BBC reported that "the EU may welcome the report itself, but may want to distance itself from the content." The report was heavily criticised for some of its pro-Kremlin statements by independent Russian and American researchers who pointed out that the report had omitted facts implicating Russia and South Ossetians in starting the war. An article by DELFI
Delfi may refer to
* Delfi (web portal), internet portal in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
* Delfi (chess), chess engine
* Delfi bookstores, a chain of bookstores in Serbia
* Delfi Limited, a Singaporean confectionery company See also
* Delphi (d ...
detailed some cases of bias in the Tagliavini commission's work, such as the omission of the Russian troop deployments to South Ossetia before the Georgian counterattack on Tskhinvali, and concluded that "the flexible Swiss diplomat and her minions made it seem like Georgia was the provocateur" and thus emboldened aggressive Russia's president to attack Ukraine. According to the European Council on Foreign Relations
The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decisi ...
think tank, the EU report was influenced by Russian state propaganda. The Atlantic Council
The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...
members stated on anniversary of the war in 2021 that Russia and South Ossetia initiated the 2008 conflict and that the EU report was erroneous.
NATO reaction in the Black Sea
NATO increased its naval presence in the Black Sea significantly following the Russian invasion, with ships dropping anchors in Georgian ports, and according to the US Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
, bringing humanitarian assistance
Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until the long-term help by the government and other institutions replaces it. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and ...
. NATO said that its presence in the Black Sea was not related to the Georgian crisis; its vessels were carrying out typical visits and preplanned naval trainings with Romania and Bulgaria. Russian General Anatoliy Nogovitsyn recalled the limit on the number of vessels admitted into the Black Sea under the 1936 Montreux convention
The (Montreux) Convention regarding the Regime of the Straits, often known simply as the Montreux Convention, is an international agreement governing the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits in Turkey. Signed on 20 July 1936 at the Montreux Palace ...
. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev questioned the claim that ships going to Georgia were bringing only humanitarian assistance, alleging the delivery of military material. According to political analyst Vladimir Socor
Vladimir Socor (born 3 August 1945 in Bucharest[Vladimir Socor - Curriculum Vitae](_blank)
...
, in spite of the limits on vessel's weight and length of visits set by the Montreux Convention, the US kept a continual presence in the Black Sea by alternating vessels from time to time.
Combatants
Georgian order of battle
According to the ''Moscow Defence Brief
''Moscow Defense Brief'' is an English-language defense magazine published by Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), an independent defense think-tank in Moscow, Russia. '', an English-language magazine published by the Russian non-governmental organisation the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies
The Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) (Russian: Центр анализа стратегий и технологий) is an independent, for-profit Russian think tank located in downtown Moscow. CAST conducts research and ...
, the Georgian troops included the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Infantry Brigades, the Artillery Brigade, part of the 1st Infantry Brigade and the standalone Gori Tank Battalion. Additionally, special forces and Ministry of Internal Affairs troops were deployed. The total number of troops was 16,000 according to the magazine. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is a British research institute or think tank in the area of international affairs. Since 1997, its headquarters have been Arundel House in London, England.
The 2017 Global Go To Think T ...
, ten light infantry battalions of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th infantry brigades, special forces and an artillery brigade, totalling approximately 12,000 troops, had been concentrated by the start of the conflict. The primary task of securing Tskhinvali was accomplished by the 4th Brigade with support from the 2nd and 3rd Brigades. According to the EU fact-finding mission, 10,000–11,000 soldiers took part in the war.
The 1st Infantry Brigade, the only one instructed to NATO standards, was serving in Iraq at the beginning of the war; on 11 August, the United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
flew it to Georgia. The best Georgian troops were overdue from Iraq and could not participate in the fighting. The presence of prime 2,000 Georgian military and the bulk of Georgian high-level government officials abroad before the war meant that Georgia did not intend to begin hostilities.
Russo-South Ossetian-Abkhaz order of battle
A sizeable portion of the Russian 58th Army, one of the foremost military units in Russia, was included in the Russian order of battle. It exceeds the Georgian Army
The Defence Forces of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს თავდაცვის ძალები, tr), or Georgian Defence Forces (GDF), are the combined military forces of Georgia, tasked with the defense of the nation's indep ...
in the number of forces, heavy hardware and planes. The 58th Army fought in Second Chechen War
The Second Chechen War (russian: Втора́я чече́нская война́, ) took place in Chechnya and the border regions of the North Caucasus between the Russia, Russian Federation and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, from Augus ...
.
Military analysis
Georgia
United States officials said that "one of the few effective elements of the eorgias military" was air defence, with the analysts crediting the SA-11 Buk-1M with shooting down a Tupolev-22M bomber and contributing to the loss of some Su-25s. This view was supported by independent Russian analysis. Colonel-General Anatoliy Nogovitsyn, Russian deputy chief of general staff, said the Soviet-made Tor
Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to:
Places
* Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain
* Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city
* Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano
* Tor Bay, Devon, England
* Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia
Sc ...
and Buk anti-aircraft missile systems, bought by Georgia from Ukraine, were responsible for shooting down Russian aircraft during the war. A Russian assessment, reported by Roger McDermott, said that Russian losses would have been significantly higher if the Georgians had not left behind a portion of their Buk-M1 systems near Senaki in western Georgia and several Osa missile launchers in South Ossetia. According to some reports, Georgia also possessed a battery of the Israeli-made SPYDER-SR short-range self-propelled anti-aircraft system. The Georgian air-defence early-warning and command-control tactical system was linked via Turkey to a NATO Air Situation Data Exchange (ASDE), which provided Georgia with intelligence during the conflict.
Georgia has said that its key deficiencies were ineffective communication during action and its lacking air strength. Konstantin Makienko of CAST saw substandard instruction of pilots as the primary reason for the paltry conduct of Georgian air sorties. According to Georgian first deputy defence minister Batu Kutelia, Georgia was required to have a complex, multi-layered air-defence system to protect its airspace. Western officers involved with Georgia's military indicated that Georgian military deficiencies were too great to be eliminated by new weapons. According to a 2 September 2008 ''New York Times'' article, "Georgia's Army fled ahead of the Russian Army's advance, turning its back and leaving Georgian civilians in an enemy's path. Its planes did not fly after the first few hours of contact. Its navy was sunk in the harbor, and its patrol boats were hauled away by Russian trucks on trailers."
A sweeping Russian offensive caught Georgia by surprise, who had never got ready for confronting such invasion. Many managerial and procedural problems surfaced during the war. According to a Western officer, Georgian logistical readiness was mediocre; there was interference between subdivisions during the action. Training to simulate combat against a probable enemy, the 58th Army, had never been organised by the Georgian Army. During the war, communications broke down in the mountains and troops had to resort to mobile phones. There was insufficient planning; according to Giorgi Tavdgiridze, nobody thought about sealing the Roki Tunnel. There was a dismal organisation of the delivery of 10,000 Georgian reservists in Gori on 9 August; they had no specific targets and went back to Tbilisi the following day. The conflict was named by Georgian journalists as the war "that was hidden from history" because there was very little video recording of the fighting. According to their American trainers, Georgian soldiers were unprepared for fighting despite having "warrior spirit". There was a small number of disciplined and knowledgeable officers in high ranking positions, and Saakashvili's government had no military background.
Russia
The Russian Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (C³I) performed poorly during the conflict. The Russian communication systems were outdated, with a 58th Army commander allegedly making contact with his combat troops via a journalist-owned satellite phone. Without the modern GLONASS
GLONASS (russian: ГЛОНАСС, label=none, ; rus, links=no, Глобальная навигационная спутниковая система, r=Global'naya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, t=Global Navigation Satellite System) is ...
, precision-guided munitions could not be used and the US-controlled GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
was unavailable, since the war zone was blacked out. Due to the negligence of Russian defence minister, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
was not sanctioned; an RIA Novosti
RIA Novosti (russian: РИА Новости), sometimes referred to as RIAN () or RIA (russian: РИА, label=none) is a Russian state-owned domestic news agency. On 9 December 2013 by a decree of Vladimir Putin it was liquidated and its asse ...
editorial said that Russian forces were without reliable aerial-reconnaissance systems, once using a Tupolev Tu-22M3 bomber instead. However, Russian reconnaissance battalions and regiments were also deployed during the war. Deputy chief of the General staff of Russia, General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, said that in the conflict new weapons were not tried out.
The RIA Novosti editorial also said that Russian Su-25 ground-attack jets did not have radar vision and ground-target coordinate computing. They also did not have long-range surface-to-air missiles that could be fired beyond the air-defence zones of an adversary. Opposition-affiliated Russian analyst Konstantin Makienko observed the substandard conduct of the Russian Air Force: "It is totally unbelievable that the Russian Air Force was unable to establish air superiority almost to the end of the five-day war, despite the fact that the enemy had no fighter aviation".
According to Russian expert Anton Lavrov, on 8 August, Russian and South Ossetian troops deployed in South Ossetia were unaware that Russian aviation was involved in the war. Russian troops and South Ossetians often assessed Russian aircraft as enemy and shot at them before precise identification took place. On 8 August, the air force performed 63 flights in support of Russian ground troops. A total of six Russian warplanes were lost during the war: one Su-25SM, two Su-25BMs, two Su-24Ms and one Tu-22M3
The Tupolev Tu-22M (russian: Туполев Ту-22М; NATO reporting name: Backfire) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1960s. According to some s ...
; friendly fire was the cause of the loss of three aircraft. Lavrov denies that the shot-down Tu-22M was being used for reconnaissance.
Communication between the North Caucasus Military District commander and the air force was poor and their roles were unclear. Colonel-General Aleksandr Zelin
Alexander Nikolayevich Zelin (russian: Александр Николаевич Зелин; born 6 May 1953) served as Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force from 9 May 2007 until 27 April 2012. Zelin holds the Air Force rank of colonel-ge ...
, commander-in-chief of the Air Force, did not set foot in the command post, instead running Air-force operations on a mobile phone from his workroom without any help from his air-defence aides. The air force was blamed of rendering no assistance to land campaign.
Swedish analysts Carolina Vendil Pallin and Fredrik Westerlund said that although the Russian Black Sea Fleet did not meet significant resistance, it proved effective at implementing elaborate operations. Mechanised infantry opened a new front in Abkhazia, which contributed to the quickness of the Russian military success.
Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presiden ...
researchers said in their assessment of the preparation of Russian general-staff that the manoeuvres were planned and implemented effectively, with a crucial confusion being engineered by the Russians. A Reuters analyst described Russia's army as "strong but flawed"; the war demonstrated that Russia's "armed forces have emerged from years of neglect as a formidable fighting force, but revealed important deficiencies." He stated that Russia fell short of its role of a first-rate military power due to these faults. Unlike the Second Chechen War, Russia's force in Georgia was composed primarily of professional soldiers instead of conscripts. Reuters journalists in Georgia stated that they found the Russian forces to be well-outfitted and orderly forces. CAST director Ruslan Pukhov
Ruslan Nikolayevich Pukhov (russian: Руслан Николаевич Пухов) is a Russian defence analyst and director of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST). In addition to his role at CAST, since 2007 ...
said that "the victory over the Georgian army ... should become for Russia not a cause for euphoria and excessive joy, but serve to speed up military transformations." Roger McDermott wrote that slight dissimilarity in criticism by civilian and official references after the conflict was "an orchestrated effort by the government to 'sell' reform to the military and garner support among the populace."
The evolution of the Russian Army into a professional force was not deemed as fruitful. In September 2008, General Vladimir Boldyrev
General of the Army Vladimir Anatolyevich Boldyrev (Russian: Владимир Анатольевич Болдырев; born January 5, 1949) was Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces (2008–2010).
Biography
Boldyrev was born on 5 J ...
acknowledged that many of the professional soldiers did not have better training than the conscripts. Most of the land combat warfare was conducted by Russian Airborne Troops
The Russian Airborne Forces (russian: Воздушно-десантные войска России, ВДВ, Vozdushno-desantnye voyska Rossii, VDV) are the airborne forces branch of the Russian Armed Forces. It was formed in 1992 from units of ...
and special troops. Due to the failure of the Russian Air Force to penetrate Georgian air defence, airborne troops could not be airlifted behind Georgian lines. A surprise attack on a land-forces commander, in which only five of thirty vehicles in his convoy made it, demonstrated information-gathering negligence. Many Russian land units reportedly were short of ammo.
Equipment losses and cost
Georgia
After the ceasefire agreement Stratfor
Strategic Forecasting Inc., commonly known as Stratfor, is an American geopolitics publisher and consultancy founded in 1996. Stratfor's business model is to provide individual and enterprise subscriptions to Stratfor Worldview, its online public ...
states that Russia "has largely destroyed Georgia's war-fighting capability". After the ceasefire was signed on 12 August, in Georgia proper, Russian troops attempted to seize and destroy Georgian armament, a process termed by the ''Moscow Defence Brief'' as the "demilitarization of the Georgian Armed Forces". Most losses of armaments were sustained after the ceasefire.
About 20 armoured fighting vehicle
An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Examples of AFVs are tanks, armoured car ...
s, including tanks, were destroyed in the fighting. Before the conflict, Georgia possessed 230–240 tanks in total. At the time of the conflict, Georgia operated 191 T-72
The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks ha ...
tanks, of which 75 were deployed into South Ossetia. Georgia lost at least 10 T-72 tanks destroyed in and near Tskhinvali. After the end of hostilities, the Russian military seized a total of 65 Georgian tanks. About 20 of those were subsequently destroyed.
The Georgian army possessed 154 IFVs, 16 reconnaissance vehicle
A reconnaissance vehicle, also known as a scout vehicle, is a military vehicle used for forward reconnaissance. Both tracked and wheeled reconnaissance vehicles are in service. In some nations, light tanks such as the M551 Sheridan and AMX-13 have ...
s, 66 APCs and 86 multi-purpose tracked armoured vehicles
Military vehicles are commonly armoured (or armored; see spelling differences) to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, shells, rockets, and missiles, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire. Such vehicles include armoured fighting ...
before the conflict. Less than 10 armoured vehicles were destroyed in combat. Two BMP-2
The BMP-2 (''Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty'', , literally "combat machine/vehicle (of the) infantry") is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, following on from the BMP-1 of the 1960s.
Development hist ...
s were destroyed in combat and two were captured. At least 20 BMPs were captured after the hostilities, including several BMP-1
The BMP-1 is a Soviet amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle, in service 1966–present. BMP stands for ''Boyevaya Mashina Pyekhoty 1'' (russian: link=no, Боевая Машина Пехоты 1; БМП-1), meaning "infantry fighting ...
s that were upgraded to BMP-1U. Georgia lost two Otokar Cobra
The Cobra is a family of armored vehicles produced by Otokar of Turkey. It is produced in two generations.
The Cobra ( tr, Kobra) is an armoured tactical vehicle developed by Turkish firm Otokar.
Durability
The monocoque steel v-hull provides pr ...
armoured vehicles. Dozens of automobiles and lorries were also lost.
Two DANA self-propelled howitzers of the Georgian army were destroyed in combat and two DANAs were captured in and near Gori. Further 20 artillery pieces, including 120 mm mortars, were left behind. Six 2S7 Pion
The 2S7 Pion ("peony") or Malka is a Soviet self-propelled 203mm cannon. "2S7" is its GRAU designation. More than 250 units were built, some sources say 500, others up to 1,000. They were distributed around the former Soviet states in the diss ...
s were captured after the hostilities. Two Buk-M1 launch vehicles and their transport loaders, as well as up to five OSA-AKM
The 9K33 ''Osa'' (, literally "wasp"; NATO reporting name SA-8 ''Gecko'') is a highly mobile, low-altitude, short-range tactical surface-to-air missile system developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and fielded in 1972. Its export version na ...
Surface-to-air missile, SAMs were also captured. The Russian military seized 1,728 firearms at the Senaki Second Infantry Brigade base.
The Georgian Navy lost one boat at sea according to Russia. In Poti, four boats were submerged. Nine Rigid-hulled inflatable boat, rigid-hull inflatables were captured.
The Air Force sustained limited damage as only three transport planes and four helicopters were confirmed lost. The Georgian air force ceased all sorties after 8 August. Instead all fighter and Trainer (aircraft), training aircraft, including the Su-25s, were tucked away. Russian bombers impaired the airstrips in Georgia. A Russian air attack on Marneuli Air Force Base destroyed three AN-2 aircraft. Russian airborne forces set fire to two Mi-24 helicopters and one Mil Mi-14, Mi-14 on 11 August.
Georgian Defence Minister Davit Kezerashvili said that Georgia lost materiel worth $250 million. According to Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, his country saved 95 percent of its armed forces.
In 2009, Russian Army Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov stated that Georgia was rearming, although the armament was not directly provided by the United States. According to Makarov, the Georgian Armed Forces had exceeded their pre-war strength by 2009.
Russia and South Ossetia
Russia admitted that three of its Su-25 strike aircraft and one Tu-22 long-range bomber were lost. Georgia at that time claimed it had downed no less than 21 Russian aircraft. ''Moscow Defence Brief'' provided a higher estimate for air force losses, saying that Russian Air Force total losses during the war were one Tu-22M3 long-range bomber, one Su-24M Fencer fighter-bomber, one Su-24MR Fencer E reconnaissance plane and four Su-25 attack planes. Anton Lavrov listed one Su-25SM, two Su-25BM, two Su-24M and one Tu-22M3 lost. Two helicopters, a Mil Mi-8, Mi-8MTKO and a Mi-24, were wrecked in an accident after the hostilities.
While there are no official figures, Russian ground equipment losses in the war are estimated to be three tanks, at least 20 armoured and 32 non-armoured vehicles lost in combat. Several more vehicles were impaired in accidents. During one engagement, Georgian forces destroyed 25 out of 30 vehicles of a Russian military unit commanded by General Anatoly Khrulyov. The Russian military had no losses in the artillery, air defence and naval forces. According to ''Nezavisimaya Gazeta'', the five-day war cost Russia an estimated 12.5 billion rubles, a daily cost of 2.5 billion rubles.
South Ossetian forces lost two BMP-2s.
A detailed list of the destroyed and captured vehicles of both sides
Russia (78, of which destroyed: 74, damaged: 2, captured: 2)
Tanks (4, of which destroyed: 4)
* 1 T-54/T-55, T-55A: (1, destroyed [South Ossetia, South Ossetian]).
* 1 T-62, T-62M: (1, destroyed).
* 1 T-72B: (1, destroyed).
* 1 T-72 operators and variants, T-72B Obr. 1989: (1, destroyed).
Armoured Fighting Vehicles (4, of which destroyed: 3, captured: 1)
* 2 BRDM-2: (1, destroyed) (1, captured [South Ossetian]).
* 2 BRDM-2, BRDM-2M: (2, destroyed).
Infantry Fighting Vehicles (20, of which destroyed: 19, damaged: 1)
* 10 BMP-1
The BMP-1 is a Soviet amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle, in service 1966–present. BMP stands for ''Boyevaya Mashina Pyekhoty 1'' (russian: link=no, Боевая Машина Пехоты 1; БМП-1), meaning "infantry fighting ...
: (10, destroyed).
* 4 BMP-1, BMP-1P: (4, destroyed).
* 5 BMP-2
The BMP-2 (''Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty'', , literally "combat machine/vehicle (of the) infantry") is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, following on from the BMP-1 of the 1960s.
Development hist ...
: (1, destroyed [South Ossetian]) (3, destroyed) (1, damaged).
* 1 BMD-2: (1, destroyed).
Armoured Personnel Carriers (5, of which destroyed: 3, damaged: 1, captured: 1)
* 1 BTR-70: (1, captured).
* 4 BTR-80: (3, destroyed) (1, damaged).
Armoured Recovery Vehicles (1, of which destroyed: 1)
* 1 List of BMP-1 variants, BREM-Ch: (1, destroyed).
Artillery Support Vehicles (1, of which destroyed: 1)
* 1 1V13(M) battery fire control center: (1, destroyed).
Self-Propelled Artillery (1, of which destroyed: 1)
* 1 122mm 2S1 Gvozdika: (1, captured and destroyed [South Ossetian]).
Aircraft (8, of which destroyed: 8)
* 1 Sukhoi Su-25, Su-25 close air support aircraft: (1, damaged beyond economical repair).
* 2 Sukhoi Su-25, Su-25BM close air support aircraft: (2, destroyed).
* 2 Sukhoi Su-25, Su-25SM close air support aircraft: (1, destroyed) (1, damaged beyond economical repair and scrapped).
* 2 Su-24M strike aircraft: (2, destroyed).
* 1 Tu-22M3 strategic bomber: (1, destroyed).
Helicopters (2, of which destroyed: 2)
* 1 Mil Mi-8, Mi-8MT transport helicopter: (1, destroyed [accident]).
* 1 Mil Mi-8, Mi-8MTKO transport helicopter: (1, destroyed [accident]).
Trucks, Vehicles and Jeeps (32, of which destroyed: 32)
* 11 GAZ-66: (9, destroyed) (2, destroyed [South Ossetian]).
* 3 ZIL-131, ZiL-131: (3, destroyed).
* 1 KrAZ-255, KrAZ-225B: (1, destroyed).
* 1 Ural-375, Ural-375D: (1, destroyed).
* 11 Ural-4320: (11, destroyed).
* 9 KamAZ 6x6: (9, destroyed).
* 1 UAZ-452: (1, destroyed).
* 2 UAZ-469: (1, destroyed) (1, destroyed [South Ossetian]).
* 2 Unknown truck: (2, destroyed).
Georgia (186, of which destroyed: 89, damaged: 1, captured: 96)
Tanks (44, of which destroyed: 27, captured: 17)
* 14 T-72 operators and variants, T-72AV: (6, destroyed) (7, captured) (1, damaged and captured).
* 29 T-72 operators and variants, T-72B: (4, destroyed) (17, captured and destroyed) (8, captured)
* 1 T-72 operators and variants, T-72 SIM-1: (1, captured).
Armoured Fighting Vehicles (2, of which destroyed: 1, captured: 1)
* 2 MT-LB: (1, destroyed) (1, captured)
Infantry Fighting Vehicles (25, of which destroyed: 19, captured: 6)
* 2 BMP-1
The BMP-1 is a Soviet amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle, in service 1966–present. BMP stands for ''Boyevaya Mashina Pyekhoty 1'' (russian: link=no, Боевая Машина Пехоты 1; БМП-1), meaning "infantry fighting ...
: (2, destroyed)
* 14 BMP-1, BMP-1U 'Shkval': (14, captured).
* 9 BMP-2
The BMP-2 (''Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty'', , literally "combat machine/vehicle (of the) infantry") is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, following on from the BMP-1 of the 1960s.
Development hist ...
: (2, destroyed) (2, captured and destroyed) (5, captured).
Armoured Personnel Carriers (3, of which destroyed: 2, captured: 1)
* 3 BTR-80: (2, destroyed) (1, captured).
Infantry Mobility Vehicles (3, of which captured: 3)
* 1 Humvee, HMMWV: (1, captured).
* 2 Otokar Cobra
The Cobra is a family of armored vehicles produced by Otokar of Turkey. It is produced in two generations.
The Cobra ( tr, Kobra) is an armoured tactical vehicle developed by Turkish firm Otokar.
Durability
The monocoque steel v-hull provides pr ...
: (1, captured) (1, damaged and captured).
Command Posts (1, of which captured: 1)
* 1 Buk missile system, 9S470M command post (for Buk M1, Buk-M1): (1, captured).
Engineering Vehicles And Equipment (5, of which destroyed: 1, captured: 4)
* 1 T-54/T-55 operators and variants, BTS-2 armoured recovery vehicle: (1, captured).
* 1 MTU-55 armoured vehicle-launched bridge: (1, captured).
* 1 BAT-2 heavy engineering vehicle: (1, destroyed).
* 2 Mini MineWolf remote controlled mine clearance systems: (2, captured).
Towed Artillery (25, of which destroyed: 1, captured: 24)
* 1 76mm 76 mm divisional gun M1942 (ZiS-3), ZiS-3 divisional gun: (1).
* 4 85mm D-74 122 mm field gun, D-44 divisional gun: (4, captured).
* 2 100mm 100 mm anti-tank gun T-12, MT-12 Rapira anti-tank gun: (2, captured).
* 17 122mm 122 mm howitzer 2A18 (D-30), D-30 howitzer: (17, captured).
* 1 152mm 152 mm howitzer 2A65 Msta-B, 2A65 Msta-B howitzer: (1, destroyed).
Self-Propelled Artillery (9, of which destroyed: 6, captured: 3)
* 4 152mm 152 mm SpGH DANA, ShKH vz. 77 DANA: (2, destroyed) (2, captured).
* 5 203mm 2S7 Pion
The 2S7 Pion ("peony") or Malka is a Soviet self-propelled 203mm cannon. "2S7" is its GRAU designation. More than 250 units were built, some sources say 500, others up to 1,000. They were distributed around the former Soviet states in the diss ...
: (4, destroyed) (1, captured).
Anti-Aircraft Guns (2, of which captured: 2)
* 1 23mm ZU-23-2, ZU-23: (1, captured).
* 1 57mm AZP S-60: (1, captured).
Surface-To-Air Missile Systems (6, of which captured: 6)
* 2 9K33 OSA-AK, 9K33 Osa-AK: (2, captured).
* 2 9A310M1 TELAR (for Buk-M1): (2, captured).
* 2 9A39M1 TEL (for Buk-M1): (2, captured).
Radars (2, of which destroyed: 2)
* 1 P-18 radar, P-18 ''Spoon Rest D'': (1, destroyed).
* 1 ST86U/36D6-M ''Tin Shield'': (1, destroyed).
Aircraft (3, of which destroyed: 3).
* 3 Antonov An-2, An-2 utility aircraft: (3, destroyed).
Helicopters (3, of which destroyed: 3)
* 1 Mil Mi-14, Mi-14BT transport helicopter: (1, destroyed).
* 1 List of Mil Mi-24 variants, Mi-24V attack helicopter: (1, destroyed).
* 1 Mil Mi-24, Mi-24P attack helicopter: (1, destroyed).
Naval Ships (9, of which destroyed: 7, captured: 2)
* 1 La Combattante III-class fast attack craft, La Combattante II-class fast attack craft Dioskuria '303': (1, scuttled).
* 1 Matka-class missile boat, Matka-class missile boat Tbilisi '302': (1, scuttled).
* 1 Lindau-class minehunter, Lindau-class minesweeper Aeti: (1, scuttled but subsequently refloated and returned to service as a training platform.).
* 1 Stenka-class patrol boat, Stenka class patrol boat P-21 Giorgi Toreli: (1, destroyed).
* 3 Zhuk-class patrol boat, Zhuk class patrol boat (Operated by the Coast Guard of Georgia, Coast Guard): (1, P 204, destroyed) (2, P 203 scuttled and subsequently refloated but not returned to service) (3, P 205, destroyed).
* 1 Project 1387 class patrol boat Tskhaltubo '101': (1, scuttled).
* 2 Rigid inflatable boat, RHIB: (2, captured).
Trucks, Vehicles and Jeeps (44, of which destroyed: 17, damaged: 1, captured: 26)
* 7 MAZ-537: (1, destroyed) (6, captured).
* 1 KrAZ-255, KrAZ-255B: (1, captured).
* 13 KrAZ-6322: (10, destroyed) (3, captured).
* 1 Ural-4320, Ural-43206: (1, captured).
* 1 KamAZ 6x6: (1, captured).
* 1 MAN KAT1 4x4: (1, captured).
* 7 Land Rover Defender: (3, destroyed) (1, damaged) (1, damaged and captured) (2, captured).
* 6 M35 series 2½-ton 6×6 cargo truck, M35A2: (6, captured).
* 4 M35 series 2½-ton 6×6 cargo truck, M35A3: (3, destroyed) (1, captured).
* 4 Humvee, M99A1 HMMWV: (4, captured).
See also
* 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
* ''5 Days of War'' – a 2011 film depicting the war
* ''August Eighth'' – a 2012 Russian war drama film depicting the war
* For Enforcing Peace
* Kosovo independence precedent
* Military history of the Russian Federation
* ''Olympus Inferno'' – a 2009 Russian war drama film and the first feature film on the Russo-Georgian War
* ''Shindisi''
* New Look military reforms, initiated as a result of the war
Notes
References
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Further reading
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* Jones, Stephen F. ''The Making of Modern Georgia, 1918–2012: The First Georgian Republic and its Successors'' (2014).
* Mankoff, Jeffrey. '' Russian Foreign Policy: The Return of Great Power Politics'' (2nd ed. 2011).
* Niedermaier, Ana K. ''Countdown to War in Georgia, Russia's Foreign Policy and Media Coverage of the Conflict in South Ossetia and Abkhazia'' (2008); a Russian perspective.
* Angela Stent, Stent, Angela E. ''The Limits of Partnership: U.S.-Russian Relations in the Twenty-First Century'' (2015).
External links
Georgia
Chronology of Bombing Facts by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia
Russia
On the situation around Abkhazia and South Ossetia @ President of Russia
International
EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia
OSCE Mission to Georgia (closed)
* The EU Investigation Report on the August 2008 War and the Reactions from Georgia and Russia in th
Caucasus Analytical Digest No. 10
Media
BBC hub
Russian air attacks in Georgia
Documentaries
Andre Nekrasov's Russian Lessons
{{Authority control
Russo-Georgian War,
Conflicts in 2008
2008 in Georgia (country)
Invasions of Georgia (country)
Post-Soviet conflicts
Wars involving Georgia (country)
Wars involving Russia
2008 in Russia
2008 in South Ossetia
2008 in Abkhazia
Abkhaz–Georgian conflict
Georgian–Ossetian conflict
Georgia (country)–Russia relations
Abkhazia–Russia relations
Russia–South Ossetia relations
Invasions by Russia
Military of South Ossetia
August 2008 events
Vladimir Putin