Russian army in Georgia. Georgia's entry into NATO will lead to a “terrible conflict”

This material was published in The New Times. It was called "Chronicle of the Five-Day War", and its subtitle was "Report from the front line and from the city of the dead." On the night of August 8, 2008, a war began between Russia and Georgia, which took place on the territory South Ossetia, then - parts of Georgia, and now no one except Russia and a couple of marginal states, an unconscripted entity, where the majority of the 53 thousand population have Russian passports, and the enclave is a Russian province. On the day the war began, a freelance correspondent found himself in Tskhinvali NT Mikhail Romanov - he, and at the height of the fighting, the then editor of the politics department flew there NT Ilya Barabanov, who in subsequent years returned to Tskhinvali, which became Tskhinvali. This war almost ended in a full-scale disaster: Russian troops full swing went to the capital of Georgia, to Tbilis, and yet cool heads the administration of then President Dmitry Medvedev convinced both Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin to abandon the idea of ​​a full-scale occupation of Georgia. Not the least role was played by the fact that, in fact, this war convinced the authorities of the need for full-scale army reform. A lot of NT wrote and who were forced to abandon their homes in Georgian villages near Tskhival.

Machine guns to the wall, we are starting to rebuild everything anew,” - Lieutenant General and head of the Security Council of South Ossetia Anatoly Barankevich stands on Tskhinvali Square between the buildings of the former Alan Hotel and the former railway station and gives orders to the volunteers gathered around.

“I don’t even carry a machine gun anymore, I just have a pistol just in case,” Tskhinvali Mayor Robert Guliev jokes. “The Ministry of Emergency Situations is already setting up camps, we are organizing the supply of humanitarian aid.”

The favorite story of Ossetian volunteers now is about how, on the night of the first assault on Tskhinvali, General Barankevich, remembering his Afghan experience, personally knocked out two Georgian tanks. Their wreckage near the former university building still interferes with traffic. The cars were torn apart in such a way that it is difficult to imagine how this was done by Barankevich alone, but the story has already become a common legend, and the correspondent of The New Times met at least two dozen “eyewitnesses” of this historical event.

"You should have seen..."

The Ministry of Emergency Situations set up its camp between the former hospital building and the former maternity hospital. “Former” - because all these buildings were actually destroyed. Over what used to be front door, the “Republican Hospital” sign has survived. Next to what was once the reception area, the sign “Exit the hospital after 10 pm through the emergency department” remains. Doctor Dina Zakharova opens her notes and says that 217 wounded people have passed through their hospital in recent days, of which 22 could not be saved. “Almost everyone has already been taken out, there is no place to keep them here now, but if you had arrived yesterday, the situation would have been completely different,” says the doctor. - On the outskirts of Tskhinvali, Georgian artillery covered a group of fighters. They made a stop and thought about getting something to eat. Four died immediately. 12 people were brought to us. The legs are torn off, the veins are sticking out. The fire continued for a long time, and they were not immediately able to be taken out. Blood loss."

Zakharova shows the basements of the hospital, where during the most fierce battles the victims were hidden. “Look at these conditions and decide for yourself whether we were ready for war or not,” she says. - Here we sort of operated, here we kind of had a surgical department. Now there is almost no one here anymore, only our midwife is still lying there. She saw a Georgian tank through the window and managed to run before it fired at the house. She’s already coming to her senses, but we’re afraid to touch her, and she herself is afraid.”

The morgue building 100 meters from the hospital also did not survive. The corpses are piled directly on the floor. True, only those who have no one to bury end up here. The cemetery is inoperative, and the heat causes the bodies to quickly decompose. People bury their relatives almost in their gardens. “Take into account all this, take into account those who are under the rubble, which is unclear when they will begin to dismantle it, keep in mind that we can’t even imagine how many could be killed and wounded in the villages, and understand for yourself that exact number It is unlikely that it will be possible to identify the victims,” doctors say.

According to doctors, 70% of wounds are shrapnel, 30% are bullet wounds. This is confirmed by the employees of “Disaster Medicine” at the Dzau1 hospital, the temporary capital of South Ossetia. More than 200 wounded passed through them during the first days of the war. “We operated non-stop,” doctors say. “First aid - and we send people to Vladikavkaz.” One of them says: “I ask young guys, volunteers, if they have any idea where they are going. They answer: “Yes, everyone has seen films about the war.” They believe that, as in the movies, they will either die heroically or win heroically. They don’t understand that it won’t work out heroically. There can be no heroism when shit, guts and brains are mixed or when a leg is torn off and the bone sticks out.”

Episodes of anticipation

The whole war is a protracted wait. The wounded are waiting for treatment, refugees are waiting for evacuation, the military is waiting for a long time for an order, but it still doesn’t come, journalists are waiting for something, doctors are waiting, columns of armored vehicles are blocking the roads, stopping traffic, and they are also waiting. At the entrance to the Roki tunnel, connecting North and South Ossetia, the New Times correspondent spent several hours driving his car through a traffic jam of tanks, armored personnel carriers, and other equipment that had been standing at the border for more than a day, waiting for something. The armored vehicles move, stop, suddenly turn around and go back. The meaning of the maneuvers, decisions about which are taken by high authorities, is not clear to ordinary officers. They just shrug their shoulders tiredly: “With such discipline, it’s difficult to win a war.” A few kilometers from Dzau, soldiers of the 42nd division transferred from Chechnya stopped. IN Peaceful time they are based in Khankala. “They announced the alarm when I was at the market. At first I decided that, as usual, it was educational. But no, they collected them and transferred them here,” says one. Another got married a day before his business trip to Ossetia. They lie on the side of the road, drink beer from two-liter bottles and are also waiting for something. They only say that the losses are much higher than officially reported: “Our 1st and 3rd battalions no longer exist.” Another day later, VGTRK correspondents who brought Vladikavkaz to Vladikavkaz will say: “For last day The Khanka residents were completely crushed.” In the meantime, they leave home addresses, ask to send them photographs, and then suddenly offer: “Do you want to go to Tskhinvali? Can anyone drive? Let us give you our Ural, get it home quickly.”

However, it’s impossible to get anywhere quickly in this war. The road from Tskhinvali to Vladikavkaz took The New Times correspondent almost 9 hours (in peacetime this journey takes 2–3 hours). Where they were going, why they were going, and whether the armored vehicles were going anywhere at all in huge numbers remained unclear. The military created chaos on the road.

Passing through a Georgian village from Tskhinvali to Dzau, a bus carrying refugees, in which a correspondent for The New Times was traveling, appeared to come under fire. Elderly Ossetians, who had suffered a lot during the days of the storming of the capital of the republic, sat motionless. Only one young man fell to his knees, grabbed the handrail with his hands and seemed to be praying, looking somewhere on the street with crazy eyes. Where they shoot. Then it turned out that this was not shelling - some Ossetians mistook other Ossetians for Georgians and fired at each other. But he was scared. Maybe a couple of days ago he wouldn’t have been so scared, but too much has changed in these days.

Fear sits in people, even those who have escaped from the war zone. Children from 6 months to 7 years old were placed with their mothers in a children's boarding school on Telman Street in Vladikavkaz. 74 people. Women in the hall watch television without stopping. Children play in the yard. The children are smiling, they have already forgotten, it seems, all the worst things. The mothers remember and, despite the security, they are afraid that even here, in Vladikavkaz, they will be attacked by Chechens or Ingush. The policeman guarding the boarding school somehow sadly shakes his head as he listens to them and asks: “Understand their condition.” In his voice there is compassion, a request, and justification at the same time.

This was not included in the official television news, but Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was also frightened. The head of government rushed to Vladikavkaz from Beijing and held an urgent meeting in the administration building, making many belligerent statements. Information about the prime minister's arrival spread throughout the city instantly. Several hundred women gathered in the square in front of the building. Refugees, mothers of those who fight, simply those who have relatives in Tskhinvali. They cried quietly and waited. A police cordon did not allow them to approach the building. They were waiting for them ex-president, and now the prime minister will come out to them and say something, somehow reassure them. The prime minister came out, the women screamed, Putin, under the cover of FSO soldiers, ran to the car. A few days later, in the same way, under the cover of his guards, Mikheil Saakashvili ran to Gori from a mythical threat, and Russian television chronicles savored these images for a long time. Only the Georgian leader fell and his bodyguards covered him with bulletproof vests, and the FSA officers pushed Putin into a car, after which the motorcade sped off from the square. The women began to sob loudly.

End or beginning?

The war seems to be over. The information and diplomatic wars continue and will last for many more months. Perhaps the Russian Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor General's Office will complete its investigation. Maybe parliament will recognize the independence of South Ossetia and even Abkhazia. Maybe the UN Security Council at its 38th meeting will finally be able to develop its position. Maybe Mikheil Saakashvili will someday understand that territorial conflicts cannot be resolved with “hail” installations and the total destruction of civilians. Maybe diplomats will finally be able to draw up a document with full list from 5, 8 or 11 conditions for resolving the conflict. The situation is changing so quickly that anything can happen. Perhaps someday even Russian state television will stop cutting out the refugee’s phrase from the story: “Neither one nor the other cares about us. Their territories are of concern. Earth. Geopolitics".

1 Georgian name is Java.

And this is how a freelance correspondent heard and saw the very beginning of the war - then still - in Tskhivnali, under the volleys of Grads and air bombing NT Mikhail Romanov:

The war began half an hour before 08/08/08. From that day on, the shooting of wolves was allowed: too many of them had bred in the mountains. All Thursday there were local battles, but on the outskirts of Tskhinvali. And even more so, no one used Grad missiles. At approximately 9 pm the city began to be targeted with automatic weapons and grenade launchers, but even then no one believed that full-scale attacks would begin. fighting. Mortar fire came from the villages of Nikozi and Eredvi. Journalists filmed the burning Government House and store " Child's world" By 11 pm on August 8, we gathered in the basement of the Alan Hotel: Su-25s of the Georgian Air Force appeared in the sky.

Cannon fodder

At night, the excited assistant to the commander of the SSPM1, Vladimir Ivanov, comes running: “Journalists! Everyone urgently go to headquarters!” General Marat Kulakhmetov is going to make an urgent statement. At first, Kulakhmetov intended to perform on the street, where the stands had huge maps of the area. But they start hitting with hail, and this is no longer a joke. Everyone falls to the floor. The shelling is carried out by the Georgian military from a strategic position - they have captured the Priski Heights, from where the whole of Tskhinvali is visible at a glance. General Kulakhmetov was stingy in his comments: “This is war.” Everyone understood this without him. Time - 23.40.

The city is already full of corpses: mostly Ossetian militias, young men in camouflage and armbands who marched with machine guns against tanks to protect basements full of relatives. The meaning of the expression “cannon fodder” becomes clear.

At 6 a.m., everyone was urgently evacuated to the peacekeepers’ base, again under Grad bombing. As it turned out later, it was on time. Half an hour later, the three remaining colleagues saw Georgians running around the hotel with machine guns and rifles. The journalists barely escaped in a Channel One car. By this time, 80 percent of the city no longer existed.

At the base, everyone is ordered to go down to the bunker - this is a room 15x3 meters, littered with large boxes. Residents of nearby houses and many peacekeeper boys have already taken refuge here: there is no room. Peacekeepers are also cannon fodder: what can they do with their machine guns against the Grads? Journalists are literally forced into the shelter. It is impossible to sit down; the men in the center are forced to stand. There is no light in the bunker, as in the whole city. It's unbearably hot. Sometimes people run out into the street to wring out their T-shirts, and soldiers tear open boxes to fan themselves with cardboard. Does not help.

During the day, the Georgians took the city for the first time: they are a few hundred meters away from us, you can hear it. We wrap a white T-shirt around the mop so we can stick it through the hopper bars. Reporters suggest placing microphones from federal TV channels on the fishing rods. After a heated argument, we decide not to stick out our T-shirt or microphones.

A few hours ago, Masha served us at Farne, the only working cafe in the city. A citizen of Belarus, she came to visit her father and work as a waitress. Valentina Ivanovna also came to visit her mother. We have four children in the bunker. Two boys, 2 and 3 years old, behave like real men. A two-year-old girl cries incessantly. 8-year-old Zalina says to her mother Alla: “If school No. 3 was bombed, does that mean I won’t go to school anymore?” Ossetian men are silent. The women take soothing drops and twist each other in Ossetian style: it all ends in collective crying. More more women they shout if one of the journalists forgets to turn off the mobile phone and take out the battery: the military explained to them that this is how the target is targeted for attack. We first try to explain to them that on the street, three meters away, journalists are constantly talking on their phones, and TV crews even have satellite dishes on the roofs of their cars. In vain. “Where are the Russians? Did they abandon us? - they ask us endlessly. In total there are 30 journalists and about 150 civilians. We have water that we drink from one ladle, passing it around. Nobody wants to eat, although the cook, nicknamed Kuzya, offers to go up to the dining room and taste the boiled pasta.

Slot with overlap

As the military explained, the bunker is more of a decoration. A direct hit from a shell would have torn everyone to shreds: the hole was only covered with a 20-centimeter layer of earth. In military jargon it is a “gap with overlap.” In the zone of the 20-year conflict, at the base of Russian peacekeepers, there is not a single real shelter. The head of the Security Council of South Ossetia, Lieutenant General Anatoly Barankevich, yells into his mobile phone: “Tell Medvedev: we are holding on with all our strength! Georgian troops are in the city! We are waiting for reinforcements!”

The next day, the military starts the generator, and the journalists can work normally. TV crews do stand-ups against the backdrop of a burning university and building. fire department. Only NTV producer Pyotr Gaseev dares to drive around the city in a Niva: he was repeatedly shot at by snipers, his whole car is full of holes from shrapnel. As a result, they were injured. Petya’s filming with a portable camera is the first footage of the ruined city that the country has seen: an order came from Moscow to “dissolve,” that is, to share the picture with colleagues from other TV channels. Gaseev shows footage: a damaged tank 20 meters from our fence. Next to the car lies a Georgian, or rather, what’s left of him. Inside the tank, Petya finds two sheets of paper. Instructions written in English and Georgian languages. You are required to submit thumb and toe prints and blood type for identification.

Georgian troops stormed the city at least three times. At these moments, you can go outside for a couple of hours, because since there is a contact battle in Tskhinvali, it means that shells are no longer falling from above. Newly arriving residents tell terrible stories: Georgians open the basements and, without understanding who is inside, throw grenades inside. In front of eyewitness Zaur Pliev, a Georgian tank crushes a woman with a small daughter. The hospital is bombed. The hotel was damaged by tanks: the skeleton is still standing, but the 4th floor is completely destroyed.

Moments of silence are insidious. Many Ossetians go to their homes to return with food and water and change clothes (almost everyone was in slippers and dressing gowns). The woman who was sitting next to the peacekeepers, like everyone else, decided to go out and see what had become of her house. Half an hour later, an employee of the press department returned to the base and said that the unfortunate woman had received a sniper bullet right in the head before his eyes.

We spend the night on the bare floor of the bathhouse: it’s not stuffy here, and you can at least stretch your legs. At midnight and three o'clock in the morning - the most terrible hail strikes.

On Saturday, August 9, at five o’clock in the evening, Boris Chochiev, Deputy Prime Minister of Kokoity, makes his way to us. He went out into the street to call from the basement, and three minutes later a rocket hit his house with direct fire, destroying the neighboring ones as well. “There is no 58th Army in the city. Russia has betrayed you, journalists. And all Ossetians,” he says, although for almost a day now the military has been reporting that the Russians are fighting directly in the city. A new wave of panic begins. Women are crying. The peacekeeping guys begin to write farewell letters to relatives. Some of them suggest throwing down their weapons and running through the forests. One of the contract soldiers shows an SMS message from a fellow soldier, whose battalion was in the so-called Shanghai area near the village of Khetagurovo. There were fierce battles there in the first hours of the war. The message is: “We don’t even have bullets.” Peacekeepers say an entire battalion was killed in Shanghai. The battalion is approximately 400 people.

The head of the Southern Bureau of Channel One, Olga Kiriy, is crying. And from horror, and also from the fact that she had repeatedly transmitted news to Moscow about the triumphant entry of the Russians into the city. The opinions of television people are divided: some want to get out even under air attack before dark, others want to wait out the active phase of the fighting. NTV journalist Ruslan Gusarov puts the point: in a commanding voice, he orders journalists to get into cars with the inscription “TV”. We take small children with their mothers. Ruslan himself does not have enough space in the car... The film crews of Anton Stepanenko from Channel One, Evgeniy Poddubny from TVC and Yuri Romanyuk from the Ukrainian channel Inter remain in the city voluntarily. Cars move at high, maximum possible speed. There are corpses all around, but through the dust we cannot distinguish whether they are Ossetians or Georgians. The journalist convoy was fired upon twice with mortars, however, not a single vehicle was damaged.

As we leave the city we finally see the 58th Army. The tanks' barrels have been uncovered. On one trunk it is written: “To Berlin.” The equipment moves at a speed of 20 km/h. BMPs are constantly breaking down, and the entire impressive column is standing behind one vehicle. Several infantry fighting vehicles turned back before reaching there - there was not enough diesel fuel. Someone is fleeing a dead city, someone is rushing to the aid of the living. The longest tunnel in the country - 4 kilometers - is filled with smoke and fumes from the exhaust of armored vehicles. Visibility is one meter. But this no longer bothers anyone. The worst is behind us.

Materials in NT about the Georgian-Ossetian conflict and the war between Russia and Georgia:

Four years ago, on the night of August 8, 2008, Georgian troops attacked South Ossetia and destroyed part of its capital Tskhinvali.

After an armed conflict that lasted until the summer of 1992, Georgia lost control over South Ossetia. Since then, Tskhinvali has sought recognition of the independent status of South Ossetia, while Tbilisi continued to consider this territory integral part Georgia, offering only autonomy to the Ossetians.

The situation in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict evening of August 1. The city of Tskhinvali and a number of other settlements were subjected to massive shelling from the Georgian side. In the conflict zone, a battle raged for several hours using small arms, grenade launchers and mortars. The first casualties and significant destruction appeared. South Ossetia began evacuating its residents to North Ossetia; in the first two days after the shelling, 2.5 thousand residents left their homes.

August 2 Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Yakobashvili, who visited South Ossetia, after meetings with representatives of the OSCE observer mission, with the Chief of Staff of Peacekeeping Operations of the Georgian Ministry of Defense, General Mamuka Kurashvili, and the Commander of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPKF), General Marat Kulakhmetov, said that the Georgian authorities do not see an alternative to direct negotiations between Tbilisi and Tskhinvali and express their readiness to conduct negotiations without preconditions. The Georgian authorities, Yakobashvili said, will accept all situations.

August 3rd Georgian side to the borders of South Ossetia. An artillery column consisting of one division advanced towards Tskhinvali from the military base in Gori artillery installations D-30 and two mortar batteries, which are part of the fourth motorized infantry brigade of the Georgian Ministry of Defense.

August 16 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a plan to resolve the conflict in Georgia.

August 17 was introduced in the unrecognized republic state of emergency for a period of one month. A curfew was introduced on the territory of Tskhinvali, that is, a ban on citizens being on the streets and in other places. in public places without specially issued passes and identification documents, from 21:00 to 6:00.

August 20 from 21:00 there is a state of emergency throughout South Ossetia and a curfew in Tskhinvali “in connection with the stabilization of the situation in South Ossetia.”

August 21 Abkhazia and South Ossetia based on the results of “nationwide gatherings” of the presidents and parliaments of the republics with a request to recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed states.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Georgia, August 2008

Tuesday, August 8, marks 10 years since the beginning of the Russian-Georgian war of 2008, the epicenter of which was the armed confrontation between the authorities and separatists in the Georgian region of South Ossetia. In addition to the separatist armed formations supported by the Kremlin, regular units also took part in military operations against Georgia Russian army.

On the night of August 8, 2008, Georgia announced shelling of Georgian villages by the unrecognized republic and several provocations against the official authorities. After this, Tbilisi announced the restoration of constitutional order in the self-proclaimed republic. As a result of the offensive of the Georgian army, the latter occupied most of Tskhinvali - the main settlement of South Ossetia.

However, the Kremlin predictably did not want to accept the defeat of the pro-Russian separatists, and the Russian Armed Forces directly intervened in this internal conflict. Russian state media accused Georgia of deliberately shelling Tskhinvali, and on August 7, Russian troops began to move into the conflict zone, launching a counterattack the next day.

During a direct land invasion of the country by the Russian army, tank brigades Russians entered the boundaries of the unrecognized entity of South Ossetia, wedged into the Kodori Gorge. In addition, Russia bombed Georgian cities, military bases and civilian infrastructure. and also deployed its naval forces.

The marines of the Black Sea Fleet occupied the main port of Georgia, Poti, and destroyed all Georgian boats and ships in the roadstead that had military designations, including border guard ships.

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Andrei nacu/English Wikipedia

On August 10, Kyiv warned the Russian side against the participation of ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the conflict around South Ossetia, which, in particular, was reported by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

On the same day, based on the direct invasion of the Russian Federation, Tbilisi announced the withdrawal of troops from Tskhinvali and a unilateral ceasefire. President Mikheil Saakashvili signed a truce plan proposed by the European Union, and in particular by French President Nicolas Sarkozy (dated August 12), the main points of which were a final ceasefire and the return of troops to their bases by the parties to the conflict.

Despite the efforts of the Western emissary Sarkozy to extinguish the conflict, Russian troops began to actively advance deeper into Georgian territory - the cities of Gori, Senaki, Poti were occupied, and the strategic road connecting western and eastern Georgia was cut.

On August 26, the Kremlin recognized the “independence” of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, a corresponding decree was issued by President Dmitry Medvedev (besides Russia, these entities are recognized by Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria). At the same time, Russian troops remained on Georgian territory, which violated Sarkozy's plan.

After the occupation of part of Georgia and the cleansing of Georgian villages around South Ossetia, a ceasefire agreement was finally reached with the participation of international mediators.

“It is not Russia that decides what Georgia’s borders should be,” the French President expressed his attitude to the conflict.

In particular, the conclusion Russian troops from Georgian territory was supposed to end before October 1, 2008. However, de facto, Russian troops remain on the territory of the self-proclaimed republics to this day, remaining a factor of influence on the internal and foreign policy Georgia.

As a result of the war, Georgia suffered a military defeat and lost control over significant territories and strategic points for several weeks. At the most tense moment of the confrontation, a serious threat arose of storming Tbilisi and overthrowing President Saakashvili - it was at this stage that the energetic intervention of mediators in the person of Nicolas Sarkozy was required.

In September 2008, Georgia broke off diplomatic relations with Russia; since March of the following year, sections of the interests of the two countries at the Swiss embassies have been operating in Tbilisi and Moscow.

In 2009, an international commission to investigate the causes of the Russian-Georgian war, led by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini, concluded that “Georgia started the fighting, but this was facilitated by the provocative actions of the Russian Federation.” The conclusions of the Tagliavini commission were criticized in Georgia and EU countries as those that do not fully establish the degree of responsibility of the Russian Federation for the escalation of the conflict.

Russia has completed a significant part of the operation to force Georgia to peace in South Ossetia, Tskhinvali has been taken under the control of peacekeepers, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said.

00:06 Shortly before midnight Moscow time, shelling from large-caliber guns of the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali, as well as South Ossetian villages, began from the Georgian villages of Nikozi and Ergneti. Representatives of the unrecognized republic stated that Georgian troops had actually started a war and were storming Tskhinvali.

00:42 Georgia promised to restore constitutional order in South Ossetia. The commander of the Georgian peacekeepers, Mamuka Kurashvili, called the military operation in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict “restoring constitutional order in South Ossetia.” He also called on Russian peacekeepers stationed in the conflict zone not to interfere in the situation.

01:38 The assault on Tskhinvali is being carried out in all directions. The South Ossetian authorities stated that the Georgian side was shelling Tskhinvali from Grad launchers, howitzers and large-caliber mortars.

02:08 Georgia announced the start of war with South Ossetia. Georgia notified peacekeepers stationed in the conflict zone about the outbreak of war in South Ossetia.

02:37 Abkhazia is sending a thousand volunteers to South Ossetia. President of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh convened an emergency meeting of the Security Council on Friday night; According to media reports, Abkhazia will send about a thousand volunteers to help South Ossetia.

03:46 Georgia launched a tank attack on the southern outskirts of Tskhinvali. The Georgian army has launched a tank attack on the southern outskirts of Tskhinvali, said South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity. South Ossetian forces, he emphasized, are resisting. Georgian State Minister Temur Yakobashvili, in turn, announced that Tskhinvali is surrounded by Georgian troops.

04:20 Infantry went to storm Tskhinvali.

04:33 Russia demanded the convening of a UN Security Council meeting on the situation in South Ossetia.

04:48 Reinforcements arrived in Tskhinvali from North Ossetia.

06:49 Abkhazia is moving troops to the border with Georgia.

07:12 Georgian media reported the call for reservists.

07:23 Georgian aviation struck South Ossetia.

08:56 Georgian troops began shelling Russian peacekeepers.

09:23 Georgian media announced the capture of Tskhinvali.

11:10 The President of Georgia, during his address to the nation, spoke about his vision of the situation in the conflict zone and announced the general mobilization of reservists.

11:19 “Rustavi-2”: Georgia shot down a plane arriving from Russia.

12:37 The Parliament of North Ossetia called on Russia to help the South.

13:45 A gas pipeline was blown up in Tskhinvali. Earlier it was reported that fighting was taking place in the center of the capital of South Ossetia, a hospital was destroyed, and a university was on fire.

16:14 A column of Russian armored vehicles entered Tskhinvali. Earlier, Georgia threatened Russia with war if information about the introduction of Russian armored vehicles into the territory of South Ossetia was confirmed.

18:23 Units of the 58th Army occupy the northern outskirts of Tskhinvali.

19:32 During an air raid on a Georgian air base, several military aircraft were destroyed.

21:23 200 volunteers from Russia crossed the border of South Ossetia. According to one of the volunteers, a column of 20 Gazelles arrived from North Ossetia to South Ossetia.

23:16 20 trucks with Georgian military departed from Batumi towards Tskhinvali. According to eyewitnesses, at least 200 military personnel were sent from Batumi to South Ossetia.

02:14 The shelling of Tskhinvali from all types of weapons continues.

09:17 One of the tactical groups of the 58th Army of the North Caucasus Military District broke into the base camp of Russian peacekeepers in Tskhinvali.

11:38 Units of the 76th Airborne Division from Pskov enter Tskhinvali. Units of the 98th Airborne Division from Ivanovo, as well as special forces from the 45th Separate Reconnaissance Regiment, are being transferred to South Ossetia.

12:28 The General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces confirms information about two Russian military aircraft Su-25 and Tu-22 shot down in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict. One pilot was killed, three were captured.

12:59 Georgian military surrenders and leaves positions in the South Ossetian capital.

14:59 Abkhazia began an armed operation in the upper part of the Kodori Gorge.

15:52 Ossetian militias destroyed 4 Georgian tanks.

19:02 The Abkhaz army attacked missile strike on some military facilities in western Georgia.

20:39 Ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet are regrouping in the Black Sea, adjacent to the maritime border of Georgia.

21:00 Units of the 58th Army are conducting an operation to oust Georgian formations from the southern outskirts of Tskhinvali.

23:50 After a five-hour battle, the artillery shelling of Tskhinvali stopped. Tank assault prevented. On the southern outskirts of the city, 12 Georgian tanks were destroyed.

08:45 Abkhaz troops resumed massive shelling in the upper part of the Kodori Gorge, controlled by the Georgian military, using aircraft and Grad multiple rocket launchers.

10:20 Russia has strengthened its naval group in the zone of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. Black Sea Fleet warships entered the waters near the city of Ochamchira.

10:25 The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced the withdrawal of troops from South Ossetia.

14:02 The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed information about the withdrawal of Georgian troops from Tskhinvali.

14:40 An air raid was carried out on Zugdidi.

17:13 Abkhaz troops continue to launch air and artillery strikes on Georgian positions in the upper part of the Kodori Gorge.

17:33 The Abkhaz army took up positions on the Inguri River along the border with Georgia.

18:39 The first column with the wounded left Tskhinvali for Vladikavkaz. 50 people were evacuated.

18:56 Georgia announced a ceasefire. The Russian consul was handed a note, which states the corresponding order of Mikheil Saakashvili. The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that Georgian troops have withdrawn from South Ossetia.

20:20 Georgian media reported a new bombing of the territory of the Tbilaviastroi plant. According to journalists, the bombs were dropped by a Russian plane. No casualties or damage were reported.

21:05 Sergei Lavrov stated the need for the unconditional withdrawal of Georgian troops. In a telephone conversation with Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili, Lavrov pointed out that Georgian troops did not leave the conflict zone, contrary to the statement of the Georgian authorities.

21:40 Tskhinvali has completely come under the control of Russian peacekeepers. This was reported by assistant commander of the JPKF Vladimir Ivanov. According to him, Georgian troops are retreating to the administrative border with South Ossetia.

22:16 Georgia agreed to allow Russian peacekeepers into the Zugdidi region

The governor of the Zugdidi region, Zaza Morokhia, agreed to the presence of the Russian military on the condition that the bombing of Georgia stops

23:40 Igor Dygalo confirmed the destruction of the Georgian missile boat. According to the Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, four ships violated the boundaries of the “declared security zone” in the patrol area Russian fleet. After the destruction of the boat, three other Georgian ships left in the direction of Poti.

00:17 Russian paratroopers arrived in Abkhazia. According to the assistant commander of the KSPM for information support, Alexander Novitsky, the soldiers were brought in with the goal of “preventing Georgia’s military aggression against Abkhazia.”

00:23 Tskhinvali was again subjected to artillery shelling.

1:10 19 Georgian saboteurs were captured in South Ossetia. The prisoners were placed under tight security due to fears that residents of the unrecognized republic would stage lynching.

1:22 Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs: Russian artillery began intensive shelling of the city of Gori.

1:57 Russia and Georgia agreed not to use aviation in the conflict zone. This was reported by Novosti-Georgia news agency. The commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces, Sergei Chaban, noted that the agreement does not apply to the Tskhinvali region.

2:37 Assistant commander of the JPKF: the shooting in Tskhinvali has stopped.

3:28 North Ossetia will send 2,500 volunteers to South Ossetia. According to Novaya Gazeta, help is arriving in the conflict zone from Kabardino-Balkaria, Chechnya and other regions of the Caucasus.

4:16 Abkhazia resumed shelling of the Kodori Gorge.

4:24 France presented a plan for resolving the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict. The main provisions of the plan are an immediate ceasefire, provision of medical care wounded, as well as the withdrawal of Georgian and Russian troops from the conflict zone.

5:24 According to the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Russian Air Force attacked the suburbs of Tbilisi.

7:26 Georgia continues shelling Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia

According to JPKF commander Marat Kulakhmetov, clashes between Russian peacekeepers and Georgian military continued in the southern part of the Tskhinvali region on Monday night. One of the peacekeepers' posts was bombed by the Georgian Air Force

8:24 Column of the Ministry of Emergency Situations with humanitarian aid entered South Ossetia. 52.5 tons of food, two hospitals and a tent camp for 500 people will be delivered to Tskhinvali.

8:51 According to South Ossetian government representative Irina Gagloeva, Georgia opened an irrigation canal to deprive people of the opportunity to hide from bombing.

10:10 The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that 50 Russian bombers appeared in the skies over Tbilisi. According to the Georgian side, bombs were dropped on the village of Kojori near the capital.

10:20 Abkhaz forces have completely blocked the upper part of Kodori and are ready to begin an operation to destroy Georgian troops.

10:50 Russian peacekeepers demanded that the Georgian troops in Kodori surrender their weapons. Sergei Chaban announced the demilitarization of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone.

12:24 The relationship between Russia and Georgia has been terminated sea ​​communication. The Georgian port of Batumi is closed.

12:43 The shelling on the road from Tskhinvali to the Roki tunnel on the border with Russia has stopped, the situation has stabilized. The evacuation of local residents from surrounding settlements continues, and military equipment, including tanks and self-propelled artillery units, is heading towards Tskhinvali.

13:02 Georgia Online found Russian submarines off the coast of Abkhazia.

13:05 The “peace enforcement operation” in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict has been largely completed, said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. According to him, the city of Tskhinvali has been taken under control by a reinforced Russian peacekeeping contingent.

13:07 Georgia refused to lay down arms in Kodori. Georgian troops rejected the ultimatum of the Russian peacekeepers.

13:07 The General Staff of the Russian Federation admitted the loss of two more Su-25 aircraft, said Deputy Head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Anatoly Nogovitsyn. He also stated that the total loss of personnel on Georgian territory was 18 people killed, including one officer and another 17 sergeants and soldiers.

13:10 Russian General Staff: Georgian military were transferred from Iraq by American planes.

13:31 Western airlines are canceling flights to Georgia.

13:35 Saakashvili signed a ceasefire document prepared by the foreign ministers of France and Finland, the Novosti-Georgia agency reports.

13:52 Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Colonel General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, called the statements of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili about a ceasefire a deception.

During the three days of the war in Georgia, 92 people died. Losses among the population of South Ossetia, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, exceed two thousand people, more than 30 thousand became refugees.

00:31 Georgian television reported that Russian troops entered the territory of Poti.

00:51 The Russian Ministry of Defense denied this message.

04:34 Two Russian journalists missing in Georgia have been found. It turned out that the photographer of the Expert magazine Vyacheslav Kochetkov and the correspondent of the Russian Reporter magazine Igor Naydenov are in the camp of Russian peacekeepers in Tskhinvali.

10:15 Russian troops began fighting 20 kilometers south of Tskhinvali. Agencies reported this with reference to Ossetian militias.

11:21 Reuters reported that Russian planes began the bombardment of Gori. It was also reported that several people were injured as a result of the bombing.

11:35 The FSB detained the deputy head of the Georgian Foreign Intelligence Service. Russian intelligence services claimed that the detainee was collecting information about the military and the president of South Ossetia. It was also reported that a number of Georgian agents are suspected of attempting to form a gangster underground in southern Russia.

13:00 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced the completion of the operation to enforce peace in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict. The goal of the operation, Medvedev said, had been achieved, the safety of peacekeepers and civilians had been ensured, and possible centers of aggression would be destroyed.

13:01 Georgia accused Russia of bombing the oil pipeline. According to Georgian media reports, Russian planes bombed the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BDT) oil pipeline, which is necessary for transporting oil from Azerbaijan to Turkey and is partially laid through Georgian territory. This was stated by Secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia Alexander (Kakha) Lomaia. Previously, Russian representatives have repeatedly stated that they do not intend to interfere with the operation of the oil pipeline.

13:21 Explosions occurred on the outskirts of Tbilisi, media reported. According to preliminary information, this happened in the area where the airport and aircraft factory are located.

13:40 Russian troops control Senaki airport and settlements in the security zone of Abkhazia.

13:50 The Russian General Staff denied reports of bombing of the oil pipeline.

14:00 The Russian General Staff demanded the presence of international observers in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

This is one of best texts about the Russian-Georgian war of 2008.

Seven years ago, the Russian-Georgian war broke out. It certainly created a new reality - in Georgia, Russia, the post-Soviet space and in the world in relation to Russia. But most of us know about it from myths created by massive Russian propaganda. Here are the most common ones

Myth No. 1: Saakashvili started the war

War is started by those who prepare for it in advance.

Who prepared for it and who tried to prevent it?

In June-July 2008, various information sources reported that a political decision on an imminent (presumably in August) war with Georgia had already been made in Moscow, with Putin personally overseeing the preparations. The official news agency Osinform will publish the formula for a future war: " peacekeeping operation to force the aggressor to peace."

On July 5, large-scale maneuvers of the North Caucasus Military District (NCMD) "Caucasus-2008" begin. 8,000 military personnel, 700 armored vehicles, and ships of the Black Sea Fleet are taking part in them. The official purpose of the exercise is to prepare for a “peace enforcement operation.” The troops are distributing the leaflet “Warrior, know your probable enemy!” - with a description of the armed forces of Georgia.

The best are being transferred to the border with Georgia airborne units Russian army from different regions of the country. They replace the motorized rifle units previously stationed there. At the Terskoye training ground of the 58th Army in the south of North Ossetia, a field military hospital is being set up, capable of treating 300 wounded per day.
After the end of the maneuvers, the field hospital is not dismantled. The troops participating in them do not return to their places of permanent deployment. Some of them seep into South Ossetia. Fortunately, just these days (coincidentally) the construction of a military base in Java was completed.

By the beginning of the war (that is, before 08/08/08 - the official date of the entry of Russian troops into hostilities), about 200 units of armored vehicles and advanced units of the 135th and 693rd regiments of the 58th Army - over 1,200 people - were concentrated in Java. Russia still does not recognize this (how can one admit that Russian troops were stationed in South Ossetia before the start of the aggression to repel Georgian aggression?), but the testimony of the soldiers and officers of the 58th Army themselves, which appeared in the media, does not leave this doubts (see, for example, selection).

At the same time with military training there was information. On July 20, hacker attacks began on Georgian government and information sites. It was the second in history famous case cyber warfare against the state. (The first was recorded in 2007, when, after the aggravation of relations between Russia and Estonia due to the relocation of the monument Soviet soldiers in the center of Tallinn, the websites of Estonian government agencies were destroyed.) The final attack occurred on the morning of August 8 - against Russian-language information websites of Georgia.

But from August 1, Russian journalists began to arrive from Vladikavkaz to Tskhinvali in an organized manner. Soon their number increased to 50 people, but not a single foreigner (with the exception of a correspondent for the Ukrainian TV channel Inter) was among them. The Russian authorities established a strict access system: accreditation had to be obtained from both the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Only the most trusted and trusted could pass through this double sieve.

This ensured that the conditions were not only for a massive invasion, but also that only what needed to be reported about it was ensured.

The most significant thing in this multi-step combination is that the war has actually begun
July 29, 2008.

It was on this day that hostilities began. And they were started, in accordance with plans from Moscow, by South Ossetian armed formations completely controlled by Russia.

They began a massive and systematic shelling of villages in South Ossetia under Georgian jurisdiction and the positions of the Georgian peacekeeping contingent. The fire came from mortars and 120-mm guns, which are generally prohibited in the conflict zone. People died.

This is not a separate escalation in the long-standing confrontation between the separatists and the central government. This is a blatant prelude to war. Deliberate provocation with the aim of causing a response. So the city punks send a youngster to pick on a passer-by, only to then jump out from around the corner and pile on him shouting: “Don’t touch the kid!”

The Tbilisi authorities understood perfectly well what was expected of them. But it is impossible to bear the blows for long. By the evening of August 1, the Georgians begin returning artillery fire on militant positions in the vicinity of Tskhinvali. The Ossetians are responding by expanding the shelling zone of Georgian villages and increasing the intensity of fire. Large-caliber mortars and 122-mm guns are already in use.

Mass evacuation of the population to Russia begins from Tskhinvali. Over the course of several days, more than 20 thousand people were taken out. This is estimated to be half the actual population of the self-proclaimed republic. Tskhinvali becomes an almost deserted city.

And through the Roki tunnel - the only way for heavy equipment to pass from North Ossetia to South Ossetia - Russian armored vehicles and troops are moving.

The Georgian authorities are trying to the last to resolve the matter peacefully. Saakashvili's personal representative T. Yakobashvili arranges a meeting with the South Ossetian leadership in Tskhinvali on August 7 through the mediation of the Russian Ambassador-at-Large Yu. Popov.

He's coming. Popov is not there. It turns out that the tire got flat on the way. "So put on the spare tire!" - advises the Georgian minister Russian Ambassador. “And the spare tire is punctured,” the ambassador replies. Such a disaster. The representative of South Ossetia refuses to negotiate without a Russian mediator.

Yakobashvili is negotiating with whoever he has - the commander peacekeeping forces General Kulakhmetov. He admits that he is “no longer able to control the Ossetian units.” What to do? “Announce a unilateral ceasefire,” Kulakhmetov advises.

Within an hour, Yakobashvili resolved the issue. At 17:00 he announces to Kulakhmetov that the Georgian government has agreed to a unilateral ceasefire. At 17:10 the Georgian guns fell silent. At 19:10 Saakashvili announces this in a live television address in Georgian and Ossetian and calls for negotiations.

The response is to intensify shelling of Georgian villages. By 23:00 they reached their peak. And at the same time, a column of Russian troops with 100 units of armored vehicles emerges from the Roki tunnel. The invasion has begun.
In half an hour, Saakashvili will give the order to start a military operation.

Could he have done anything differently? Of course he could.

But for this you had to forget that you are the president sovereign country that you are a man and that you are Georgian. And if he had done this, he would not have been one, or the other, or the third.

It was a Zugzwang situation: the rulers of Russia skillfully brought him into the war, leaving no other way out.
The one who wants war, the one who starts the war is the one who prepares for it, the one who does not give the enemy a chance to avoid it. It was Russia.

Myth No. 2: Russia started the war to stop the genocide of Ossetians

Where did this come from?

Already on August 8, the President of South Ossetia E. Kokoity reported that as a result of shelling and military operations in Tskhinvali alone, 1,400 people were killed - the figure is not final. The next day, August 9, official representative The republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs announced 2,100 civilian deaths in Tskhinvali.
This figure - more than 2,000 dead - appeared everywhere later: in reports, in media reports, and in online forums.

The number of victims was supplemented by examples of the atrocities of the Georgian military: direct fire from tanks at houses where civilians were hiding, targeted fire from machine guns at children and the elderly, burning of houses along with living people, decapitated corpses of girls...

But when they began to count, it turned out that everything was not quite like that. During the entire fighting in the city, the Tskhinvali hospital, where all the wounded and dead Ossetians were admitted, received 273 wounded and 44 killed, 90% of the victims were South Ossetian militias. Chapter investigative committee at the Russian Prosecutor's Office, A. Bastrykin announced that 134 civilians of South Ossetia had died during the entire war, according to Yulia Latynina, “resurrecting 1,866 people in one fell swoop.”

But even after the official count, the number “2000” remained in the public consciousness, and even in speeches and interviews with officials, including Putin.

Although it is initially unrealistic. The official number of residents of Tskhinvali before the war was 42 thousand. After the evacuation in early August, half of them should have remained. The usual ratio of killed to wounded in military conflict zones is 1:3. This means, statistically, for every 2,000 killed there should have been another 6,000 wounded. That is, almost every second Tskhinvali resident would have been wounded or killed after the Georgian assault. And if it were so, would such a brave arithmetician as Kokoity be able to keep silent about it? But he didn't say.

How did 2,000 dead appear on the second day? And so - what genocide without thousands of victims! "Thousands" is at least two. So it turned out to be 2000. Modestly - to the minimum.

As for the Georgian atrocities, not a single fact was confirmed even after verification by such a demanding organization as Human Rights Watch. Not a single eyewitness account - only retellings of what was told. That's how rumors spread. Judging by their abundance and drama, these were deliberately spread rumors. Professional disinformation.

But ethnic cleansing of Georgians by South Ossetian armed forces is not a rumor. The Georgian population in South Ossetia, where Georgian villages interspersed with Ossetian ones almost in a checkerboard pattern, no longer exists. Robbed, expelled, killed - some Georgian villages were simply razed to the ground. This was done by the hands of the brave warriors of Kokoity. They did not distinguish themselves in battles and almost did not participate (and the warlike president himself, at the first reports of the advance of Georgian troops to Tskhinvali, fled from the capital under the shadow of Russian tanks to Java, and returned with them), but they took their souls in reprisals against civilians and looting.

Thanks to their efforts, there are no more Georgians in South Ossetia. But on the territory of Georgia, outside of South Ossetia, more than 60 thousand Ossetians lived and continue to live peacefully. What would happen to them if the Georgians really started genocide? Remember the Armenians in Baku during the Karabakh crisis.

But the fact is that there was no genocide of Ossetians in Georgia and by Georgians either before the war, or during it, or after it. There was no reason.

Myth #3: Russia went to war to protect its peacekeepers

The last thing the Georgians wanted was to fight with Russian peacekeepers.

The first thing they did when starting hostilities was to warn the Russian peacekeeping contingent.
At 23.35, President Saakashvili gives the order to begin the operation, and at 23.40, the commander of the Georgian peacekeeping forces, Brigadier General Mamuka Kurashvili, reports the advance of the troops to the commander of the Russian peacekeepers, General Kulakhmetov, and asks not to interfere.

“It’s not that simple,” the Russian general answered the Georgian.

Even before this, at the initial stage of hostilities, Ossetian artillerymen and mortarmen fired at Georgian villages near the peacekeepers’ deployment sites, using them as cover, or even using direct assistance to direct fire. Kulakhmetov did not consider it necessary to deny this in conversations with Georgian officials. During the offensive of the Georgian troops, key figures of the South Ossetian command hid in the main headquarters. According to international standards, this made it a legitimate target.

However, in the target map issued to Georgian artillerymen during artillery preparation, the peacekeepers' targets were marked as prohibited for fire.

In order to protect its peacekeepers, the Russian leadership did not have to send troops and spend money on the war. It was enough to prohibit Kokoity from using them as cover - and everyone would have remained safe. But the goal was different.

Myth #4: Russia started the war to protect its citizens

The Russian authorities themselves created their own artificial diaspora in South Ossetia, issuing Russian citizenship and Russian passports to thousands of residents of the self-proclaimed republic on Georgian territory. Legally, this is regarded as interference in the internal affairs of another state. As it turned out - and in fact. The artificial diaspora created an artificial reason for intervention: protecting our citizens is nothing like the newly minted ones, everyone is dear to us.
Ingenious, of course: this can provide justification for an invasion of any country.
But not original: in the same way, Hitler created a pretext for the annexation of Czechoslovakia in 1938 under the pretext of protecting the rights of the Sudeten Germans and for making territorial claims to Poland. Milosevic tried to do the same thing in the 90s in dismembered Yugoslavia.
Firstly, good company. Secondly, we know how this defense of their “oppressed compatriots” ultimately turned out.
Who really benefited from the virtually uncontrolled issuance of Russian passports to residents of South Ossetia is the corrupt elite of the republic. Georgians discovered hundreds of Russian passports without the owners' signatures in captured Tskhinvali - these " dead Souls“Pensions and benefits were probably accrued from the Russian treasury.

Myth 5: Georgia bombed Tskhinvali

When Georgian troops approached Tskhinvali on the night of August 8, they only conducted barrage fire and shelled administrative buildings. There was no need for anything else. The Georgians entered an intact and half-empty city, which was abandoned not only by the majority of residents, but also by the main forces of the militia. Kokoity with the color of his army fled to the Russian military base in Java. The Georgian troops were opposed by a few scattered groups of partisans with small arms. They could only run away from the tanks.

Bombing and shelling of the city from "Grads" were needed in the next two days, when the Georgians were driven out of the city by Russian troops who arrived to help their Ossetian brothers. These were their bombs and shells. It is on their conscience that most of the dead civilians (see Myth No. 2) and the destroyed city are on their conscience.

Myth No. 6: Georgians fled shamefully

About the progress modern wars Most of us get our ideas from television pictures. From the picture of the August war, the viewer could remember how “timid Georgians fled,” leaving equipment and barracks with their beds made. And I couldn’t see what wasn’t shown.
For example, the defeat of a Russian column of armored vehicles by Georgian special forces on August 8. Then, out of 120 tanks and armored personnel carriers, more than half were destroyed, and the commander of the 58th Army, General Khrulev, was seriously wounded. According to Saakashvili, this episode delayed the advance of Russian troops for two days. And then the Russian command brought up such forces that in the event of a direct confrontation, the Georgian army would have been completely destroyed. And he gave the order to retreat so that there would be something to defend Tbilisi. You can't break the butt with a whip.
It is clear that the balance of forces between the Russian and Georgian armies is so disproportionate that there can be no talk of any real confrontation. But this rather relates to Myth No. 1 - about whether the Georgians wanted war.

Myth No. 7: The war ended in peace

Georgia lost 20% of its territory - lands that most Georgians consider theirs. Not a single Georgian president will dare to abandon them forever. And no one can guarantee that any of them will not dare to return what was lost - including by force.

Russia acquired two formally independent quasi-states as satellites, which, besides itself, were recognized only by such influential powers as Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru - for 50 million dollars, and Vanuatu is still bargaining, and Hamas, which itself is not a state. In fact, these are two forever subsidized regions of Russia, doomed to be black holes of the Russian budget, oases of wild corruption and crime. There will never be prosperity or even peace there, but there will always be the possibility of criminal and national conflicts.

Russia has regained its Soviet image of a brutal aggressor, which, of course, pleases national pride, but only harms business, diplomacy and, ultimately, the security of the country.

Russia and Georgia have become and will remain irreconcilable enemies. This will last a long time. After the war, a real “cold war” began between the two states, and as recent past experience shows, in “ cold war“The one who has more weapons and a stronger army does not always win.

Myth No. 8: South Ossetia is the land of Ossetia, not Georgia

The territory of South Ossetia is the original part of Georgia, as even the geographical names indicate. The same Tskhinvali, after the war in the Russian press and official documents renamed Tskhinvali, this did not make it any less Georgian, since its root is from the ancient Georgian word meaning “hornbeam”. Ossetians in the capital of South Ossetia became the national majority only in 1990. Before interethnic conflicts After the decline of the USSR and the sovereignty wars it caused, there was practically no antagonism between Georgians and Ossetians. This is not even the situation of Kosovo, where an overwhelming Albanian majority was formed on primordially Serbian soil. The ethnic cleansing carried out by Kokoity with the support of Putin in 2008 is too deep and too fresh a wound for it to heal and for Georgians to come to terms with it.

And finally, a lot of photos of destroyed Georgian villages