Georgia fired first shots in war — report
Georgia started last year’s war with Russia but Moscow helped to provoke the fighting, found a long-awaited official report into the conflict, which cost about 850 lives and created political turmoil in Europe.
The findings of the European Union-sponsored enquiry were seized on by both Georgia and Russia as vindication of their views that the other side was responsible for the war.
But the report will come as a bigger blow to Tbilisi than Moscow, because western support is far more important to pro-west Georgia than to Russia.
Meanwhile, those concerned about regional stability — such as the US and the EU — will be struck by the authors’ warnings of the dangers of another war. The report said: «The risk of a new confrontation remains serious.”
Heidi Tagliavini, the Swiss diplomat who headed the enquiry, said categorically that «it was Georgia which triggered off the war when it attacked Tskhinvali [the South Ossetian capital] with heavy artillery on the night of 7 to 8 August 2008».
This action was illegal, the report said. «There is the question of whether the use of force by Georgia in South Ossetia … was justifiable under international law. It was not.”
The authors acknowledged that Russian troops — other than official peace-keeping forces — were already in South Ossetia before the Georgian shelling. But they rejected Tbilisi’s claims that this was «a large-scale Russian military incursion».
However, the enquiry also said the war «was only the culminating point of a long period of increasing tensions, provocations and incidents», for which it blamed Russia and Georgia, and the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Ms Tagliavini said: «All sides to the conflict bear responsibility for these ever more serious developments.”
Russia was criticised for increasing its involvement in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, including the illegal mass conferral of Russian citizenship. The report condemned Russia’s policy of establishing spheres of interest in its neighbourhood as «irreconcilable with international law». But it also criticised US military support for Georgia and accused «the international community» of paying too little attention.
Ms Tagliavini said: «While the onus of having actually triggered off the war lies with the Georgian side, the Russian side, too, carries the blame for a substantial number of violations of international law.”
The report rejected Russian allegations that Georgia’s attack amounted to genocide against South Ossetia. But it accepted Tbilisi’s charges that ethnic cleansing took place against Georgians driven from South Ossetia and criticised Russian troops for failing to stop abuses by South Ossetian irregulars.
Reaction from the EU on Wednesday was muted, as officials said they were studying the contents. The union is unlikely to respond forcefully for fear of provoking new regional tensions.
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