01.10.2009 09:51  On September 30 the international independent South Ossetia conflict fact-finding mission communicated a report on results of its work to representatives of Russia, Georgia, UN, EC and OSCE. Head of the mission, a Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini communicated copies of the full text of the report to Russia's permanent representative to the EU Vladimir Chizhov, his Georgian colleague Salome Samadashvili, the ambassador of Sweden (the holder of the EU Presidency), the UN Representatives and the Greek presidency of the OSCE.
The EC mission believes that Georgia's leadership began military operations against Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It was just the President of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili, who ordered the attack on the night of August 7-8, 2008.
One of the mission members Oliver Volle has worked for many years as a member of the international mediators group in Georgia. Volle stated in the report that it was just Georgia that had begun provocations. The Kodorsk Gorge occupation, according to him, was just the first serious provocation in 2008.
Sabina Fisher, Member of the EU Institute for Security Studies (Paris) holds the same opinion too. “The USA and the President George Bush rather supported the Georgian government’s defiant position,” Fisher underlined. “Thus, Georgia's leadership had the impression that in case of escalation of conflict Georgia would receive American support. Exactly this feeling was influential in the tragedy broken out last year
Head of the international independent South Ossetia conflict fact-finding mission Heidi Tagliavini said that “Georgia launched a war, having made a missile artillery attack on Tshinvala on the night of August 7-8. At the same time she emphasized that responsibility for the conflict flareup rests with all the parties involved, which were taking actions leading to aggravation of tension
Heidi Tagliavini underlined that the published document does not contain any political recommendations, but just analyzes the causes and chronology of the conflict.
On her part, Natalia Timakova, Press Secretary of the Russian President said that the Kremlin welcomes findings of the European Community mission concerning Georgia’s aggression last August. Timakova also underlined that the Head of state himself has not learnt yet the mission's report. “Judging by the first messages, we can only welcome the findings as to who launched the war,” the Press Secretary noted. “If the mission recognized that it was Georgia, what Russia had talked about more than once, we can only welcome such a conclusion,” said Timakova.
Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to NATO Dmitry Rogozin noted that it was on record that Georgia had delivered a strike on Tshinval, as a result of which the Russian peacemakers were killed.
“It must be understood that this mission worked at a time when the European Community had already accepted certain estimates of what had happened. There was very little space for the international mission to manoeuvre,” Russian Permanent Representative to NATO added in answer to the international mission’s statement that Russia is partly responsible for the conflict flareup too. 
 |
Search
