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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Just for your information, as it might have gotten
lost with the election news;</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>The Sunday Times (UK)<BR>November 9, 2008<BR>Georgia fired first shot, say
UK monitors<BR>By Jon Swain<BR><BR>Two former British military officers are
expected <BR>to give crucial evidence against Georgia when an <BR>international
inquiry is convened to establish <BR>who started the country's bloody five-day
war with Russia in August.<BR><BR>Ryan Grist, a former British Army captain, and
<BR>Stephen Young, a former RAF wing commander, are <BR>said to have concluded
that, before the Russian <BR>bombardment began, Georgian rockets and artillery
<BR>were hitting civilian areas in the breakaway <BR>region of South Ossetia
every 15 or 20 seconds.<BR><BR>Their accounts seem likely to undermine the
<BR>American-backed claims of President Mikhail <BR>Saakashvili of Georgia that
his little country <BR>was the innocent victim of Russian aggression and
<BR>acted solely in self-defence.<BR><BR>During the war both Grist and Young
were senior <BR>figures in the Organisation for Security and <BR>Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE). The organisation <BR>had deployed teams of unarmed monitors to
try to <BR>reduce tension over South Ossetia, which had <BR>split from Georgia
in a separatist struggle in <BR>the early 1990s with Russia's support.<BR><BR>On
the night war broke out, Grist was the senior <BR>OSCE official in Georgia. He
was in charge of <BR>unarmed monitors who became trapped by the <BR>fighting.
Based on their observations, Grist <BR>briefed European Union diplomats in
Tbilisi, the <BR>Georgian capital, with his assessment of the
conflict.<BR><BR>Grist, who resigned from the OSCE shortly <BR>afterwards, has
told The New York Times it was <BR>Georgia that launched the first military
strikes <BR>against Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital.<BR><BR>"It was clear
to me that the [Georgian] attack <BR>was completely indiscriminate and
<BR>disproportionate to any, if indeed there had been <BR>any, provocation," he
said. "The attack was <BR>clearly, in my mind, an indiscriminate attack on the
town, as a town."<BR><BR>Last month Young gave a similar briefing to
<BR>visiting military attachés, in which he <BR>reportedly supported the
monitors' assessment <BR>that there had been little or no shelling of
<BR>Georgian villages on the night Saakashvili's <BR>troops mounted an onslaught
on Tskhinvali in <BR>which scores of civilians and Russian peacekeepers
died.<BR><BR>"If there had been heavy shelling in areas that <BR>Georgia claimed
were shelled, then our people <BR>would have heard it, and they didn't," Young
<BR>reportedly said. "They heard only occasional small-arms
fire."<BR><BR>Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister who <BR>helped
broker the ceasefire that ended the war <BR>and has been a fierce critic of the
Russian <BR>invasion of Georgia, is tomorrow due to announce <BR>a commission of
inquiry into the conflict at a <BR>meeting of EU foreign ministers in
Brussels.<BR><BR>The inquiry will be chaired by a Swiss expert as <BR>a mark of
independence and will try to establish <BR>who was to blame for the conflict.
European and <BR>OSCE sources say it is likely to seek evidence <BR>from the two
former British officers.<BR><BR>The inquiry comes as the EU softens its hardline
<BR>position towards Russia amid mounting European <BR>scepticism about
Saakashvili's judgment.<BR><BR>Europe is preparing to resume negotiations with
<BR>Moscow this month on a new partnership and <BR>cooperation agreement, which
it froze when Russia <BR>invaded Georgia, routed its army and recognised <BR>the
independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway
region.<BR><BR>Although Grist and Young know only part of the <BR>picture, their
evidence appears to support <BR>Russia's claim that the Georgian attack was well
<BR>underway by the time their troops and armour <BR>crossed the border in a
huge counter-strike.<BR><BR>Georgia attacked South Ossetia on the night of
<BR>August 7-8. In the afternoon an OSCE patrol had <BR>seen Georgian artillery
and Grad rocket launchers <BR>massing just outside the enclave. At 6pm the
<BR>monitors were told of suspected Georgian shelling of a
village.<BR><BR>Georgia declared a unilateral ceasefire. But at <BR>11pm it
announced that Georgian villages were <BR>being shelled and began a military
operation to <BR>"restore constitutional order" in South Ossetia.<BR><BR>Soon
afterwards the Georgian bombardment of <BR>Tskhinvali began. By 12.35am the OSCE
monitors <BR>had recorded more than 100 rockets or shells exploding in
Tskhinvali.<BR><BR>Russia sent in troops and armour, saying they <BR>were there
to protect its peacekeepers and the <BR>civilian population. The invasion
attracted <BR>worldwide condemnation and led to a deterioration <BR>in relations
between Moscow and the West.<BR><BR>Many western leaders depicted Russia as an
<BR>expansionist giant determined to crush its tiny <BR>neighbour. They rallied
to Georgia's defence amid <BR>calls for it to be rapidly admitted to Nato,
Saakashvili's most fervent wish.<BR><BR>The president argued that Russia had
attacked <BR>Georgia because "we want to be free" and that his <BR>country was
fighting a defensive war.<BR><BR>Critical to his argument was his claim that he
<BR>had ordered the Georgian army to attack South <BR>Ossetia in self-defence
after mobile telephone <BR>intercepts from the Russian border revealed that
<BR>Russian army vehicles were entering Georgian <BR>territory through the Roki
tunnel.<BR><BR>"We wanted to stop the Russian troops before they <BR>could reach
Georgian villages," Saakashvili said. <BR>"When our tanks moved toward
Tskhinvali, the <BR>Russians bombed the city. They were the ones - <BR>not us -
who reduced it to rubble."<BR><BR>Russia counters that the war began at 11.30pm,
<BR>when Saakashvili ordered an attack, well before <BR>any Russian combat
troops and armour crossed the border through the tunnel.<BR><BR>HOW FIGHTING
BROKE OUT<BR><BR>August 7, 3pm: OSCE monitors see build-up of <BR>Georgian
artillery on roads to South Ossetia.<BR><BR>6.10pm: Russian peacekeepers inform
OSCE of <BR>suspected Georgian artillery fire on Khetagurovo, a South Ossetian
village.<BR><BR>7pm: Georgia declares a unilateral ceasefire.<BR><BR>11pm:
Georgia announces that its villages are <BR>being shelled and launches attack in
South Ossetia.<BR><BR>11.30pm: Georgian forces bombard
Tskhinvali.<BR><BR>11.45pm: OSCE monitors report shells falling on
<BR>Tskhinvali every 15-20 seconds.<BR><BR>August 8, 12.15am: Commander of
Russian <BR>peacekeepers reports that his unit has taken <BR>casualties. Russia
later announces that it has <BR>invaded Georgia to protect civilians and Russian
peacekeepers.<BR><BR>********<BR><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>