GEORGIA CONFLICT 2008 [Home]-[Background]-[Aug 1-7]-[Aug 8-9]-[Aug 10-11]-[Aug 12-13]-[Aug 14-15]-[Aug 16-19]-[Aug 20-24]-[Aug 25-27]-[Aug 29-31]-[Sep 1-14]   U.S. President George Bush approved a 1 billion dollar aid package to Georgia as Vice Preident Dick Cheney arrives in Tiblisi stating that the US condemned Russia for what he called an "illegitimate, unilateral attempt" to change Georgia's borders by force. VIce Preident Cheney assured Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili that the U.S. was "fully committed" to Georgia's efforts to join Nato. He said it was now "the responsibility of the free world to rally to the side of Georgia," and that, "Georgia will be in our alliance," he said.   The USS Mount Whitney entered into the port at Poti today and begin delivering humanitarian relief supplies in support of "Operation Assured Delivery." The operation is part of the larger United States response to the government of Georgia request for humanitarian assistance which includes an airlift into Tiblisi, and has included two other US military vessels delivering humanitarian supplies to the port of Batumi.   Mount Whitney is the flagship of the US 6th Fleet and is a sophisticated command and control vessel which will deliver more than 17 tons of aid, including 4,000 blankets donated by the U.S. Agency for International Development, juice, powdered milk and hygiene products. In the past few weeks, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Dallas (WHEC 716) and USS McFaul (DDG 74) carried more than 115 tons of humanitarian supplies to the port in Bat'umi, Georgia, while U.S. Navy C-9, C-40 and C-130 aircraft flew 20 continuous missions airlifting 325 tons of humanitarian aid into Tbilisi.  French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, announced a "momentous" breakthrough today, securing a pledge from Russia to withdraw its troops from undisputed Georgian territory within a month. But he was only able to secure the commitment from Russia to withdraw its troops from Georgia by threatening to walk out of heated talks with senior Kremlin officials. Tempers apparently flared after the Russians foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, tried to remove a reference in the new deal requiring a pull back to positions held before the fighting began on August 8. "At that point Sarkozy, acting in his role as president of the European Union, got up and said, "We're going. This is not negotiable." But after Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, was summoned back to the negotiating room, a compromise was reached and the agreement achieved. Sarkozy has been instrumental in negotiations with the Russians throughout the ordeal. Under the new Sarkozy-Medvedev agreement, intended to clarify a six-point peace accord signed in August, Russian troops will withdraw from the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti and dismantle other checkpoints erected close to Abkhazia within seven days. Moscow has also agreed to pull its forces out of a self-declared buffer zone around Akhazia. The fragile ceasefire in Georgia was threatened today after Georgia accused Russian soldiers of killing one of its police officers near the rebel region of South Ossetia. According to the Georgian interior ministry, the officer was killed after a police post came under fire from a Russian checkpoint at Karaleti, a village near the strategic town of Georgia. Russia denied the Georgian claim. "Georgian soldiers are taking provocative actions near our observation posts," said Alexei Nesterenko, a Russian foreign ministry spokesman. "These provocations are intended to make us defend our soldiers." What is known is that one Gerogian police officer is dead and there are no reports of any Russian troops being wounded or killed.   At long last, and after much negotiation and a lot of foot dragging by the Russians, hundreds of Russian personnel withdrew from positions Saturday in western Georgia and Georgian officials indicated that Russia met a deadline for a partial pullout agreed to with French President Sarkozy. Russian soldiers and armored vehicles withdrew from six checkpoints and temporary bases in the Black Sea port of Poti and other areas nearby, Georgian Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia said. "They have fulfilled the commitment" to withdraw from the area by Sept. 15 under an agreement European Union leaders reached with Russia last week, Lomaia told The Associated Press. But he stressed that Georgia, along with its western allies and supporters, demands a full withdrawal to pre-conflict positions. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko confirmed the withdrawal later in the day. |
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