In 2008, US and Israeli-backed Georgian military forces attacked two tiny secessionist enclaves, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Mikheil Saakashvili, the president of Georgia, was closely linked to the Neo-conservatives of the George W Bush administration. Russia stepped in to defend the enclaves and has since then supported them militarily and economically. Now, the South Ossetian president is warning the world that Georgia could be preparing to invade his country once again, determined to force the republic back under Georgian control. RT America has the story:

The president of South Ossetia has told the international intermediaries that the activity near his country’s border suggests that Georgia is readying for a new war.

Leonid Tibilov told the representatives of European Union, OSCE and United Nations that South Ossetian intelligence possessed serious information that the Georgian side was building fortifications and creating ammunition dumps in the villages near the border between the two countries. He added that such events invoked thoughts that Georgia plans a military action against the people of South Ossetia.

…In August this year, Russian Foreign Ministry officials said that Georgian authorities were still considering using force against South Ossetia and Abkhazia – two breakaway states that were officially recognized independent by Russia and several other states after South Ossetia in 2008 repelled, with Russian help, the aggression of Georgia that sought to reclaim the republic as its territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised to continue to help South Ossetia. RT America also has that story:

Russia and South Ossetia have agreed to hold regular consultations in order to settle the Caucasus republic’s most pressing issues, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced after a meeting with his counterpart Leonid Tibilov.

“We are going to maintain constant working contacts… in the field of security, as well as social and economic areas,” Putin commented.

He pointed out that in the last two and a half years, Moscow has allocated 9 billion roubles ($298.8 million) for the restoration of South Ossetia, and that another 8.5 billion roubles ($282.2 million) will be provided to the republic by 2013.

Tags: georgia invasion, putin, south ossetia

This entry was posted on September 24, 2012 at 10:36 pm and is filed under News & Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.