Russia racks arsenal, halts fighting

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for a halt to fighting in Georgia on Tuesday and the leaders of France and Russia inked a cease-fire deal, but not before Georgia’s modernized arsenal sustained massive damage.

“We haven´t achieved peace yet, but we have achieved a provisional cease-fire of hostilities,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.

Georgia’s president said early Wednesday that he agreed to the “general principles” of a plan for ending fighting with Russian troops in his country, the Associated Press reported.

The cease-fire plan brokered by Mr. Sarkozy calls for both Russian and Georgian troops to return to their positions before fighting erupted across the breakaway province of South Ossetia last week.

Meanwhile, NATO countries scrambled to punish Russia for its invasion of pro-Western Georgia just days after President Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin embraced in a show of friendship at the Beijing Olympics.

The Western alliance found its options limited to largely symbolic measures, such as boycotting meetings.

“Clearly, the Russian military is still capable of launching complex, combined arms operations. Its leaders have apparently studied the NATO air campaign over Kosovo and Operation Iraqi Freedom,” said Nathan Hodge, a senior analyst at Jane’s Defense Weekly, a leading private intelligence publication.

“Over the past five years, Georgian defense budgets have risen dramatically and the country has built a small, but well-armed force with updated equipment,” Mr. Hodge said. Georgia had modernized its arsenal in anticipation of NATO membership.

“Georgian ground forces have gained valuable operational experience through repeat deployments in support of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. But Georgia’s military modernization efforts are now increasingly at risk.”

A Georgian diplomat confirmed that its military hardware had sustained heavy damage.

Over objections of the United States, several NATO nations at an April summit in Romania blocked preliminary applications by Georgia and Ukraine to join the Western alliance. Opponents cited Russian objections to further NATO enlargement.

Moreover, the United States and Russia have been locked in an increasingly acrimonious dispute over U.S. plans to build a missile defense shield in the Czech Republic and Poland.

With five months remaining in the Bush presidency, the outcome of either initiative is most likely to be decided under the next president.

Leaders from the former communist states of Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Ukraine appeared on stage in front of a huge crowd in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, on Tuesday to show support for Georgia. All but Ukraine are NATO members.

Georgia accused Russia of continuing cease-fire violations Tuesday night, with continued bombing of military and civilian targets.

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