• As a member of the pro-European opposition in Georgia, I support the sentiments expressed by Vaclav Havel and others. Whatever our views of President Saakashvili, we want to see our country reunited and an end to the illegal Russian occupation. There is no doubt the 2008 conflict was planned in Moscow and I hope the EU's report will condemn the almost daily Russian provocations in our territory, as well as showing how our government fell into the most obvious trap.

We need to look forward, though. Both sides must respect the terms of the ceasefire. Through trade and incentives, we need to offer the Abkhazians and Ossetians an alternative to Russia. The international community must do far more to prevent the ethnic cleansing of Georgians. But our security in the face of the Russian threat must not come at the expense of a vibrant, healthy democracy or political reconciliation. I have personal experience of negotiating with the Abkhaz and remain optimistic that we can achieve our dream of peaceful coexistence, not just between Abkahzians, Ossetians and Georgians, but also between political opponents in Tbilisi. We will need European support for both.

Irakli Alasania

Leader, Our Georgia Free Democrats

MOSCOW — European Union monitors are stepping up their patrols in Georgia ahead of the release of a much anticipated report on the origins of last year’s war in South Ossetia, in case the report’s conclusions reignite tensions around the breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

There has been heated speculation about the European Union report, which will be presented next Wednesday to the organization’s Council of Ministers in Brussels. Both Russia and Georgia maintain that they bear no responsibility for the war’s outbreak, and each says it hopes that its version of events will be the one that the commission writes into the historic record.

The report could make political waves if it sharply apportions blame, instead of concluding, as many in the West have, that both governments bear some responsibility. Georgia’s president, Mikheil Saakashvili, in New York City to address the United Nations General Assembly, dismissed a report in the German magazine Der Spiegel that said he would be largely blamed for starting the war.

“Nobody takes this kind of newspaper [sic] quote seriously because everybody who was there — and there were serious people there — everybody knows what happened,” Mr. Saakashvili said Tuesday on the CNN program “American Morning.” He said Georgia was too small a country to prevail in a war with Russia.

“We are not crazy in any way,” he said.

A Russian deputy foreign minister, Grigory B. Karasin, said he expected an “honest and unbiased report.” He noted that Russian officials met with the commission’s leader for a final round of questioning as recently as last week, making available a major figure: Gen. Maj. Marat Kulakhmetov, who led a detachment of Russian peacekeeping troops in South Ossetia on the night the war broke out.

“We seek the truth, and we are convinced the truth is on our side,” Mr. Karasin told the Interfax news service during a trip to Astrakhan, in southern Russia.

In December, the European Union established the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia, under the leadership of a Swiss diplomat, Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini. The inquiry was originally scheduled to present its conclusions at the end of July, as tensions were rising on the eve of the war’s anniversary. The release was postponed for two months because investigators received a raft of new documents, organizers have said.

Ms. Tagliavini and her two deputies have called on 19 experts in such topics as international law and Georgia-Russia relations, and are also working with an advisory board that includes former government, military and humanitarian officials.

In preparation for the report’s release, the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia, which has no connection with the war inquiry, is increasing its patrols around South Ossetia and Abkhazia by about 40 percent, especially early next week, said Alexandra Issacovitch, a spokeswoman for the mission. The authorities said they were not expecting violence, but wanted the capability to double-check allegations of gunfire or a military buildup on the boundary, she said.

“Maybe there would be some party that is not very happy with what is said,” Ms. Issacovitch said.

In an open letter published Tuesday in The Guardian, a group of European intellectuals — including Vaclav Havel, the former Czech president, and the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy — urged Europe to stand behind Georgia as the commission released its results.

“A big power will always find or engineer a pretext to invade a neighbor whose independence it resents,” the letter said. “We should remember that Hitler accused the Poles of commencing hostilities.”

But Oksana Antonenko, who organized talks between Georgian and South Ossetian officials in 2005, said she doubted that the report would reach a stark conclusion.

“People somehow think this report is going to apportion blame,” said Ms. Antonenko, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. “The truth is, this commission really did not have access to the type of intelligence that would have been necessary to indisputably assert something new.”

By now, she added, most countries have already adjusted their policies, and people have long since made up their minds.

“Nobody wants to open up any real debate about what went wrong,” she said. “This commission comes at a time when all sides want this issue to be closed.”

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has told the UN General Assembly a "Berlin wall" had divided his country into two parts since the military conflict with Russia in August 2008.

Speaking last of 35 state representatives to take the podium on Thursday at the 64th session of the UN General Assembly, Saakashvili added that Georgia's territorial integrity must be restored. [...]"Tragically, Georgia today like Germany a generation ago is a nation with a deep wound running through her," Saakashvili said.

The Georgian president said the "wall that runs through the middle of Georgia" had been "built by an outside force."

He called Abkhazia "the birthplace of Georgian civilization" and vowed that it would again be part of Georgia.

"It will take time, but Abkhazia I'm sure will once again be what it was - the most wonderful part of Georgia," he said.

Georgia will be held responsible for any future confrontation with Russia in the Black Sea, the Abkhazian foreign minister said on Tuesday.

"All hostilities [in the region] in the past decade have been initiated by Georgia, and only Georgia can provoke a new conflict...Recently they [the Georgians] have been active in the [Black] sea, and Russia, fulfilling its obligations will help us protect our borders," Sergei Shamba said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

"If they [the Georgians] attempt to violate our borders, this will mean they are deliberately seeking confrontation, and Georgia will be held responsible for it," Shamba said.

A European Union report into the causes of last year's war between Russia and Georgia will be published on Wednesday.

The independent study is likely to say that while the Georgians fired the first shot, the Russians created the conditions that led to the conflict.

Five days of fighting ended with Russian troops driving Georgian forces out of the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

at John. And you're blaming only Russia, that's funny since the US had a big part in the setting up of the conflict. CIA backed revolution, establishment of CIA black torture camps in Georgia, arming of the Georgian army, training of the Georgian army... probably giving the go-ahead to Georgia to attack South Ossetia and Abkhazia and telling them they would back them up.

Russia, Georgia and the White House in 08 are responsable for the august war.

BRUSSELS, September 30 (RIA Novosti) - The EU-commissioned report on the Russia-Georgia war in August 2008 has put the blame on Tbilisi for starting the conflict, Russia's ambassador to the European Union said on Wednesday.

"Who started it? The report gives an unequivocal answer," Vladimir Chizhov said, adding he would send the report, which was released on Wednesday, to Moscow for an official statement.

The report was commissioned by the Council of the European Union, and compiled by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini, along with 30 European military, legal and history specialists. The experts were to investigate the causes of the conflict.

Georgian officials said the report blamed Russia for escalating the conflict.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Georgia must sign a deal with its former republic of Abkhazia on the non-use of force.
"I state firmly that a deal between Georgia and Abkhazia on the non-use of force is necessary because it was not Russia that attacked, but Georgia that attacked Tskhinval [the South Ossetian capital]," Lavrov said during a visit to Abkhazia.
"Documents discovered in the Kodori Gorge after its liberation from Georgian forces during the August crisis confirm that Georgia was preparing an analogous attack on Abkhazia."

Russia could monitor and escort ships in neutral waters heading to Abkhazia to protect them from possible Georgian provocations, the Russian foreign minister said on Friday.

"We are certain that we could arrange such escorts of these cargoes that would guarantee protection from these provocations," Sergei Lavrov said during his current visit to Abkhazia.

By the way, if you want to compare Putin to the most evil person in history, you might as well say Mao or Stalin, they killed much more people than Hitler.

Or better yet - compare Putin to cancer and AIDS combined. They killed way more people than any mortal. Oh and heart disease. That right - Putin is cancer/AIDS/heart disease all in one - that's how damn evil he is. And he kicked a puppy. It just doesn't get anymore evil than that.

MOSCOW, October 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russian coastguard patrol boats and Black Sea Fleet warships will escort freight vessels carrying supplies to Abkhazia, a source in Russia's security services said on Monday.

"Border patrol boats, as well as Black Sea warships, will be able to ensure the security of navigation in and around Abkhazia," he said.

He added that the necessary infrastructure was being built at the Abkhazian port of Ochamchira.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday Russia could monitor and escort ships in neutral waters heading to Abkhazia to protect them from possible Georgian provocations.

Chief of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Alexander Bortnikov, claimed on October 13, that the Georgian secret services were assisting “Al Qaeda emissaries” in arranging sending of fighters and arms in Chechnya and Dagestan, respectively.

Speaking at a meeting of Russia’s Counter-Terrorism Committee, Bortnikov said, as quoted by the Russian news agencies: “Audio files recovered from fighters confirmed, that they, together with Al Qaeda emissaries, have established contacts with Georgian special services and with the latter’s participation they organized the infiltration of terrorists into the territory of the Chechen Republic.”

“Moreover, they constantly make attempts to deliver arms, explosives, finances for carrying out acts of sabotage in Dagestan, targeting, first of all, oil and gas pipelines,” he added.