Russia and Georgia both agree to ceasefire negotiated by Sarkozy

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 21:10 EDT, 12 August 2008

Russia and EU president Nicolas Sarkozy have negotiated conditions for a ceasefire in Georgia, agreeing on a plan that calls for both Russian and Georgian troops to move back to their original positions.

And Georgian president Saakashvili says he accepts the cease-fire plan.

After several hours of talks French president Sarkozy said the EU could send peacekeepers to Georgia if all parties agreed to the plan.

'Could Europe be involved in a peacekeeping mission? Europe is available to do that of course,' he said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, right, greets French President Nicholas Sarkozy during a meeting in the Kremlin today

The peace plan endorsed by Russian president Dmitri Medvedev and Sarkozy calls for an international discussion on the future status of Georgia's breakaway provinces and ways to ensure their security. It demands Russia and Georgia to immediately end all hostilities and allow free access to the region for humanitarian assistance.

Medvedev said the residents of both breakaway provinces must be allowed to decide whether they want to be part of Russia.

'Ossetians and Abkhaz must respond to that question taking their history into account, including what happened in the past few days,' Medvedev said.

Sarkozy is now heading to Tbilisi to talk over the plan with Georgian president Saakashvili.

Earlier today Russian forces shelled the Georgian town of Gori, despite a Kremlin promise to bring fighting to an end.

As president Medvedev ordered a halt to the invasion, his army fired on the area in an escalation of the fighting that has raged for five days.

A woman from Gori, Georgia, is left despairing after a Russin bomb hits her home

Ossetian soldiers are seen in action at the outskirts of the village of Achabet north of Tskhinvali today

Gori is a town of 70,000 people, lying 15 miles south of the disputed region of South Ossetia.

The attack appeared to be aimed at the town hall but flats were damaged.

A Dutch journalist was killed and another wounded after a fragmentation shell exploded outside a press centre.

Witnesses said one shell fell on a hospital, while journalists reported seeing dead and injured people lying in the streets.

From the Georgian capital Tbilisi, British citizens were evacuated in coaches to Armenia as Georgian troops took up positions to repulse a feared Russian attack.

Outrage: Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili gives a speech at a rally in Tbilisi today in front of 150,000 people

Enlarge  

Russian-backed rebels also launched a new offensive in Abkhazia, a second separatist region of Georgia, in an attempt to drive Georgian forces out of the only remaining area of the territory still in their control.

Earlier Mr Medvedev said: 'I have decided to stop the operation to force the Georgian authorities to peace. The security of our peacekeepers and civilians has been restored.

'The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its armed forces have been disorganised.'

His intervention prompted international relief amid hopes it would calm world oil markets which have been shaken by the potential risk to the major pipeline running through Georgian territory which supplies many Western countries.

War zone: People wait in a queue to leave Georgia at the border control post 'Red Bridge' at the border line with Azerbaijan, 45 kilometers from Tbilisi.

But there were clear warning signs that the conflict could continue as Mr Medvedev said that Russian forces would still defend themselves and crush any signs of Georgian resistance.

'If there are any emerging hotbeds of resistance or any aggressive actions, you should take steps to destroy them,' he added.

The Georgian president responded by saying he would regard the breakaway-regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia as occupied territories.

Mikhail Saakashvili says Georgia will officially designate Russian peacekeepers in the provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as occupying forces.

His prime minister Lado Gurgenidze also said he wanted to see more evidence of a Russian ceasefire and would remain 'prepared for everything' until Moscow signed a formal peace deal.

Before the ceasefire order, today's new attacks  -  which came on the fifth day of fighting since the conflict was triggered by Georgia's attempt to seize control of South Ossetia  -  had raised fears that the Georgian capital Tbilisi could come under threat.

On guard: Russian soldiers take cover as a tank convoy enters Tskhinvali, capital of the Georgian breakaway enclave of South Ossetia yesterday

He added that Moscow could not agree to any peace plan for South Ossetia if it included Georgians in a future peacekeeping force because they had attacked Russian colleagues during Tbilisi's push to recapture the breakaway region.

'They can no longer remain. They brought shame upon themselves as peacekeepers. They committed crimes,' said Mr Lavrov.

Enlarge  

He insisted that Russian soldiers were not involved despite Moscow's deployment of more than 9,000 troops to the area earlier this week.

'The operation to liberate Kodori Gorge has started,' Mr Shamba said. 'Our troops are making advances. We are hoping for success.'

That led to a defiant response from Mr Saakashvili, who told his country to fight on. 'Georgia will never surrender,' he said.

'They should know Georgia will never surrender. I directly accuse Russia of ethnic cleansing.'

The president added that his country had now effectively been cut in two by the Russia's capture of the main eastwest highway close to the key city of Gori.

Enlarge  

Attack: Ossetians look at burned tanks in Tskhinvali, capital of South Ossetia

Shortly after he spoke, Russian aircraft bombed Gori, injuring and killing several civilians in the virtually deserted streets. A Dutch TV cameraman was among those killed.

'The bombs hit in front of us and beside us,' a Reuters reporter driving through Gori said.

'Several people were wounded and lying in the street. We got straight out of there.' Georgian soldiers abandoned the town in disarray yesterday.

The attack on Gori  -  coupled with Russia's capture of two strategic towns, Senaki and Zugdidi, inside Georgia yesterday  -  intensified the growing international unease.

Enlarge  

Help at hand: A priest greets Russian soldiers atop armoured vehicles heading to South Ossetian regional centre in Tskhinvali

Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union.

Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since fighting to split from Georgia in the early 1990s  -  and both have close ties with Moscow.

President Bush said today: 'Russia has invaded a sovereign neighbouring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century.'

COACHES HIRED TO EVACUATE BRITONS

Forty British citizens were today evacuated from Tbilisi by bus following fears that Russian troops could invade the Georgian capital.

Thirty-five Britons were being transported to safety in neighbouring Armenia. Five dependants of embassy employees were also being evacuated.

Diplomats advised British citizens  -  particularly the young, old and other vulnerable people such as those with disabilities  -  to leave the city.

Panic spread around the Tbilisi last night as fears grew that Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin could send in his troops.

Analysts said the Russians had pulled back in the past hours as Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France, which holds the EU presidency, flew to Moscow for talks with Russian leaders.

But they are not ruling out a fresh offensive by the Kremlin in Georgia if the talks fail to reach a solution to the crisis.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband suspended his summer holiday in Menorca in order to fly to a summit of European foreign ministers in Brussels to discuss the conflict.