Georgia and Russia both hail report on August war
By Temuri Kiguradze
Thursday, October 1
Both the Tbilisi and Moscow authorities have stated that the report, prepared by the Commission headed by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini, has confirmed their point of view and accused the opposite side of starting the war. “Thanks to Tagliavini for this report, as even from its first sentences we can read that the conflict was not started on August 8 [2008], but provoked by Russia long before then,” stated Georgian State Minister on Reintegration Issues Temur Iakobashvili at a press conference in Tbilisi on September 30.
However, “Who started the war? The report gives a concrete answer to that question,” stated Russian EU representative Vladimir Chizhov, adding that the report has confirmed Russia’s accusations that Georgia started the military actions in South Ossetia in August 2008. Chizhov also noted that the report was “mainly objective.”
The report, published on the official webpage of the Tagliavini-led Commission, notes that the Georgian attack started the active phase of the military actions in August 2008 but says that this attack had been caused by a large number of provocations carried out by the de facto regime with the support of the Russian side. ”The shelling of Tskhinvali by the Georgian armed forces during the night of 7 to 8 August 2008 marked the beginning of the large-scale armed conflict in Georgia, yet it was only the culminating point of a long period of increasing tensions, provocations and incidents,” says the report. Salome Samadashvili, Georgia’s Representative at the EU, noted that the report “doesn’t blame” any of the sides directly for beginning the conflict, but states that “the conflict started long before August 8.”
Regarding the reasons for the Russian invasion of Georgian territory the report notes that according to Russia’s official position the actions of Russian troops were justified by the intention of protecting the Russian part of the Joint Peacekeeping Force (JPKF) and the defence of South Ossetian population from “Georgian genocide,” noting that the majority of the residents were obtaining Russian passports. The Commission confirms that “taking into account the existing dangerous conditions on the ground, casualties among Russian PKF personnel were likely,” however it underlines that the “alleged Georgian intent of genocide could not be proven.” “The number of casualties among the Ossetian civilian population turned out to be much lower than claimed at the beginning. Russian officials stated initially that about 2,000 civilians had been killed in South Ossetia by the Georgian forces, but later on the number of overall South Ossetian civilian losses of the August 2008 conflict was reduced to 162,” says the report.
Alongside criticism of the Russian side the report is quite sharp concerning the actions of the Georgian authorities as well. “There is the question of whether the use of force by Georgia in South Ossetia, beginning with the shelling of Tskhinvali during the night of 7/8 August 2008, was justifiable under international law. It was not,” reads the report. It also criticises the usage of heavy artillery and rocket launchers against the villages during the night shellings. “Even if it were assumed that Georgia was repelling an attack, e.g. in response to South Ossetian attacks against 23 Georgian populated villages in the region, according to international law its armed response would have to be both necessary and proportional. It is not possible to accept that the shelling of Tskhinvali during much of the night with GRAD multiple rocket launchers (MRLS) and heavy artillery would satisfy the requirements of having been necessary and proportionate in order to defend those villages.”
“Georgian claims of a large-scale presence of Russian armed forces in South Ossetia prior to the Georgian offensive on 7/8 August could not be substantiated by the Mission. It could also not be verified that Russia was on the verge of such a major attack, in spite of certain elements and equipment having been made readily available. There is also no evidence to support any claims that Russian peacekeeping units in South Ossetia were in flagrant breach of their obligations under relevant international agreements such as the Sochi Agreement and thus may have forfeited their international legal status. Consequently, the use of force by Georgia against Russian peacekeeping forces in Tskhinvali in the night of 7/8 August 2008 was contrary to international law,” says the document. This part of the report has however been slammed by Temur Iakobashvili, who has noted that “Russia militarized the armed formations of the separatist regime, it sent its specialists and communication units before the start of the military actions, and this should be considered as the mass presence of Russian forces.”
Somehow justifying the actions of Russian troops in South Ossetia, the report however underlines that “Russian military action outside South Ossetia was essentially conducted in violation of international law,” and sharply condemns the military operation of Abkhazian separatists and Russian troops in Kodori Gorge of Abkhazia that ended with the loss of the central Georgian Government’s control over that territory.
“Finally we note that since the conflict erupted in August 2008, the situation in the conflict region has hardly improved. The political environment for a settlement of the conflict has in fact become more difficult following the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states by one of the sides to the conflict. There is continuing tension between the sides to the conflict, in many cases bordering on open hostility; political contacts between the sides are few and limited in substance. Since August 2008 there have been a substantial number of dangerous incidents, and some of them could have ignited a wider confrontation. Even though both sides stress their commitment to a peaceful future, the risk of a new confrontation remains serious.”
Georgian political analyst Zurab Abashidze notes that despite many “controversial issues” the report is “definitely not the one Russia wanted to see.” “The report says that the attack was started by Georgian artillery on the night of August 7, however it notes that it was preceded by provocations and reasons that lie much deeper in the history of this conflict. This position seems to be objective to me and is close to European and Georgian positions,” stated the analyst, speaking to The Messenger on September 30. He noted that both Russia and Georgia will try to use this report as a tool of propaganda to justify their positions, however after some time “the euphoria will pass and only the bitter facts will remain.” Abashidze added that the report itself is “quite a large, 900 page document” and final conclusions could only be drawn after the whole document has been fully studied.
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia, based in Geneva, started its work on 2 December 2008. Its aim was to investigate the origins and causes of the conflict, analysing them with regard to international law, humanitarian law and human rights. Ms. Heidi Tagliavini, a Swiss diplomat and former head of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia, was head of the mission, which conducted meetings with the Georgian and Russian authorities, the separatist Governments and the populations of the Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.