GEORGIA: Column of Russian military vehicles moves through Gufta towards Roki tunnel which connects South Ossetia and Russia

Record ID: 522812

  • Title: GEORGIA: Column of Russian military vehicles moves through Gufta towards Roki tunnel which connects South Ossetia and Russia
  • Date: 22nd August 2008
  • Summary: (EU) GUFTA, SOUTH OSSETIA, GEORGIA (AUGUST 22, 2008) (REUTERS) RUSSIAN PARATROOPERS ON TOP APC DRIVING TOWARDS GUFTA VILLAGE RUSSIAN MILITARY VEHICLES DRIVING THROUGH GUFTA STREET VARIOUS OF RUSSIAN APCs WITH PARATROOPERS MOVING PAST COWS ON ROAD PARATROOPERS ON APC COLUMN OF RUSSIAN MILITARY VEHICLES DRIVING FROM GUFTA CLOSE UP OF RUSSIAN PARATROOPER PARATROOPERS ATOP APC
  • Embargoed: 6th September 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Georgia
  • Country: Georgia
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA9755DJEFYQCN947YHI6V9C3E4
  • Story Text: Russian troops continue pullout from Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia. Reuters correspondent saw a column of about 30 military vehicles moving through the village of Gufta 15 kilometres north of the capital Tskinvali. The column mostly consisted of APCs (armoured personnel careers) with paratroopers sitting atop and military trucks. It was moving towards Roki tunnel, which connects South Ossetia and Russia.
    Russia promised to complete a pullback of troops from Georgia by the end of Friday (August 22) but said an unspecified number of "peacekeeping forces" would stay inside the the so-called "buffer zones".
    Russia and Georgia went to war after Tbilisi attempted on Aug. 7-8 to retake the Russian-backed rebel province of South Ossetia by force, provoking a massive counter-attack from Moscow by land, sea and air.
    But within a new Russian-controlled security zone inside Georgia, the Defence Ministry statement said "peacekeepers at special checkpoints in the quantities needed to ensure security will remain."
    Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said he would not accept that.
    "There will be no buffer zones. We will never live with any buffer zones.
    We'll never allow anything like this," he told Reuters in Tbilisi.
    Russia says it needs to maintain a force in Georgia to prevent further bloodshed and protect South Ossetians -- most of whom hold Russian passports -- from Georgian attacks. Tbilisi says Moscow is trying to annex its territory.
    With the size of the new security zone unclear and the difference between regular Russian troops and Russian peacekeepers increasingly blurred, it was uncertain what Moscow's pledges actually amounted to.
    The six-point peace plan brokered by France gives Russia the right to take unspecified additional security measures in Georgia pending the arrival of an international force.
    But with the United Nations deadlocked since the start of the conflict, the chances of agreeing a resolution on Georgia looked slim.
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