Russia launches operation outside Georgia's breakaway regions

The simmering conflict between Russia and its small, former Soviet neighbor erupted last Thursday when Georgia suddenly sent forces to retake South Ossetia, a pro-Russian province that threw off Georgian rule in the 1990s.

Moscow responded with a counter-attack that drove Georgian forces out of the devastated South Ossetian capital Tshkhinvali on Sunday. Russia says more than 2,000 people have been killed in the fighting and thousands more are homeless but these figures have not been independently verified.

Earlier on Monday Russia had rejected the ceasefire claim, saying Georgian attacks had continued in South Ossetia.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday that a military operation in South Ossetia was nearly over, Interfax news agency reported. 

"A significant part of the operation to force the Georgian authorities to make peace in South Ossetia has been concluded," Medvedev said. "Tskhinvali is under the control of a reinforced Russian peacekeeping contingent."   

PUTIN'S REMARKS

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin slammed the West on Monday, saying it had mistaken the real aggressors for the victims in a conflict with Georgia over the separatist region of South Ossetia.

Putin, shown speaking on state television, singled out the United States, saying Washington was helping to bring Georgian troops home from Iraq.

In an emotional speech to senior government officials, Putin said some U.S. politicians still had a Cold War mentality.

"It is a shame that some of our partners are not helping us but, essentially, are hindering us," Putin said. "I mean ... the transfer by the United States of a Georgian contingent in Iraq with military transport planes practically to the conflict zone."

"The very scale of this cynicism is astonishing -- the attempt to turn white into black, black into white and to adeptly portray victims of aggression as aggressors and place the responsibility for the consequences of the aggression on the victims."

Putin, a former president, also said Russia would take its peacekeeping mission in South Ossetia to a logical conclusion.

"Russia, of course, will take its peacekeeping mission to a logical conclusion. We will strive for working relations with all participants of this conflict, and that, of course, includes the Georgian side," Putin said.�

DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS

Diplomatic efforts to stop fighting in Georgia mounted on Monday with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb due in Moscow after crisis talks in Tbilisi.

The two European Union ministers were in the Georgian capital discussing a peace plan to be pursued by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was expected in Moscow on Tuesday for talks with Medvedev.

Kouchner -- whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency -- met late Sunday with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to push the EU plan, which calls for an immediate ceasefire, medical access to victims, controlled withdrawals of troops on both sides and eventual political talks.

Kouchner, speaking to RTL French radio, said Saakashvili had responded positively to EU proposals and that the French president’s talks in Moscow would aim to "finalize our efforts." The EU foreign ministers would meet on Wednesday to discuss the conflict.

"We need peace to return so that the civilian population is protected," Kouchner said. "That is all. From that point of view, President Saakashvili has accepted almost all the proposals we made to him."

However Stubb said it was too early to be optimistic about a deal to end fighting. "We are not yet at (that) stage... We are doing our best and we will see what comes out today, tomorrow and at the EU ministers meetings on Wednesday," said Stubb, who currently chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

U.S. WARNING

The United States, a key ally of Saakashvili, increased pressure on Moscow to end its attacks on Georgia as the Europe's mediating efforts continue.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney told Saakashvili in a telephone conversation "that Russian aggression must not go unanswered," his office said in a statement.

"The vice president praised President Saakashvili for his government’s restraint, offers of ceasefire, and disengagement of Georgian forces from the zone of conflict," said the statement.

"The vice Ppresident told President Saakashvili that Russian aggression must not go unanswered and that its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States, as well as the broader international community."

U.S. President George W. Bush, who has been a big support of Georgia's pro-Western leader, condemned Moscow's "disproportionate response" to the South Ossetian crisis.

On his final day at the Beijing Olympics, Bush said he had spoken firmly to Putin about the crisis. "I was very firm with Vladimir Putin ... I expressed my grave concern about the disproportionate response of Russia," Bush told NBC Sports. "We strongly condemn bombing outside of South Ossetia."

"HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE"

Earlier on Monday Russia's military said it would not extend its action beyond South Ossetia after sending troops and tanks to push Georgian forces out of the breakaway region.

"We are not crossing the (de facto) border, that's our key principle," Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of Russia's general staff, told reporters in Moscow at a daily briefing.

"Russian peacekeeping troops have received no orders to invade Georgian territory," he said.

Russian troops and tanks took control of Tskhinvali, the region's devastated capital, on Sunday after a three-day battle. Moscow said 2,000 civilians were killed and thousands made homeless in a "humanitarian catastrophe".

There has been no independent confirmation of the number of dead and wounded throughout the region.

Georgian forces pounded the South Ossetian rebel capital Tskhinvali overnight with artillery fire, an AFP reporter and local residents said, resulting in "many deaths" in the city.

A local cleric, Bishop Georgy Pukhati, said the city also came under machine-gun fire. "There was heavy firing all night with rockets and machine guns from the southern side of the city," where Georgian units were still active despite claiming Sunday to have withdrawn, Bishop Georgy told AFP.

"The situation is very tense here. This is a humanitarian catastrophe. There is no water and the city's entire infrastructure is destroyed," he said.

Russia's armed forces have lost 18 soldiers and four aircraft in the conflict with Georgia, a senior Russian commander told a news conference Monday.

"Total personnel losses on Georgian territory consist of 18 deaths including one officer and 17 sergeants and soldiers. Fifty-two people were injured," deputy General Staff commander Anatoly Nogovitsyn said at a press conference. "Aviation losses consisted of four planes," he added.

A Georgian government source said on Sunday 130 Georgian civilians and military personnel had been killed and 1,165 wounded, many because of Russian bombing inside Georgia. Russia denies hitting civilian targets.�

The West views Georgia as a valuable, if volatile, ally because of its strategic location on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline carrying oil from the Caspian to Europe.

Relations between Russia and Georgia have been at a low because of Saakashvili's pro-western policies and his drive to take his country into the NATO alliance -- anathema to Moscow.

State-controlled Russian television repeatedly spoke of a "humanitarian catastrophe" in South Ossetia after the Georgian attack, with more than 2,000 dead and thousands homeless.