Russia halts military action in Georgia

UPDATED:

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Russia ordered a halt to military action in Georgia on Tuesday, after five days of air and land attacks sent Georgia’s army into headlong retreat and left towns and military bases destroyed.

Georgian officials insisted that Russia has continued the bombings despite the pledge, but Russia denied that.

Hours before the Russian announcement, Russian forces bombed the crossroads city of Gori and launched an offensive in the part of separatist Abkhazia still under Georgian control, sending in 135 military vehicles including tanks and tightening the assault on the beleaguered nation.

Gori was all but deserted late Monday most remaining residents and Georgian soldiers fled ahead of a feared Russian onslaught.

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In Tskhinvali, South Ossetia’s provincial capital, the body of a Georgian soldier lay in the street along with debris and shattered glass. A poster hanging nearby showed Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the slogan “Say yes to peace and stability” as South Ossetian separatist fighters launched rockets at a Georgian plane soaring overhead.

More than 2,000 people were reported killed and the death toll was expected to rise, for large areas of Georgia were too dangerous for journalists to enter. Tens of thousands of terrified residents have fled the fighting South Ossetians north to Russia, and Georgians west toward the capital of Tbilisi and the country’s Black Sea coast.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on national television that Georgia had been punished enough for its attack on South Ossetia. Georgia launched an offensive late Thursday to regain control over the separatist Georgian province, which has close ties to Russia.

“The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its military has been disorganized,” Medvedev said.

“If there are any emerging hotbeds of resistance or any aggressive actions, you should take steps to destroy them,” he ordered his defense minister at a televised Kremlin meeting.

Russia’s foreign minister called for Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to resign and Medvedev said Georgia must pull its troops from South Ossetia and Abkhazia the two Russian-backed breakaway provinces at the heart of the dispute.

But thousands of Georgians poured out their support for their president at a rally in Tbilisi, crowding a main square and nearby streets as far as the eye could see and holding aloft fluttering red-and-white Georgian flags.

Russian forces opened a second battlefront in western Georgia on Monday, moving deep into Georgian territory from the separatist province of Abkhazia. They seized a military base in the town of Senaki and occupied police precincts in the town of Zugdidi.

On Tuesday, an Associated Press reporter counted 135 Russian military vehicles included tanks, armored personnel carriers and three pieces of artillery driving through Georgia toward Kodori Gorge. The northern part of the gorge is the only part of the separatist region of Abkhazia still held by Georgian forces, but they have come under attack in recent days.

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