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World

GEORGIA CEASEFIRE FAILS TO HALT RUSSIAN ATTACK
By Charles Clover (Gori), Harvey Morris (United Nations), and Edward Luce (Washington)

Financial Times (London)
August 10, 2008 -- 7:51 p.m. BST, 10:51 p.m. in Tbilisi, 11:51 a.m. PDT

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/077576b6-670b-11dd-808f-0000779fd18c.html

Georgia on Sunday said it was pulling its troops out of the separatist province of South Ossetia but its appeals for a ceasefire in the widening conflict in the Caucasus failed to halt Russia’s mounting military response.

As the focus of the fighting widened from South Ossetia to Abkhazia, another separatist region, Russian aircraft were reported to have struck at targets inside Georgia, including the civilian airport in the capital Tbilisi.

Local officials said Russia also deployed a naval squadron off the coast of Abkhazia where local separatists have historically enjoyed Russia’s support.

[INSET: PORTS: Kulevi terminal: Owned by SOCAR, Azerbaijan's state oil company. -- Poti port: Mainly used to export oil products (i.e. not crude oil). Only big container terminal on Georgian Black Sea. -- Batumi oil port: Majority owned by Kazmunaigas, Kazakhstan's state oil company. -- Ceyhan oil port: On Turkish Mediterranean. Expected soon to overtake Rotterdam as Europe's biggest oil trading hub. -- PIPELINES: Baku-Tbilisi-Ceynan oil pipeline, owned by a BP-led consortium. Capacity 1 million barrels a day. -- South Caucasus Gas Pipeline, parallel to BTC, but halts at Erzerum in eastern Turkey where it joins the Turkish gas distribution network. Capacity 20 billion cubic meters a year. -- Baku-Supsa oil pipeline, owned by a BP-led consortium. Capacity 145,000 barrels a day. -- Baku-Novorossiysk oil pipeline to the Russian Black Sea. Capacity 100,000 barrels a day. Underused since completion of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan. -- Planned Nabucco gas pipeline from Caspian across Caucasus and Turkey to central Europe and Italy. Capacity 30 billion cubic meters a year. -- RAILWAYS: Network of railways across Azerbaijan and Georgia to the Black Sea including to coast of Abkhazia.]

The three-day old war in the former Soviet republic, now a vital supply route for oil from the Caspian Sea and Central Asia to Europe, has brought angry criticism from both Washington and European Union leaders of Russia’s excessive use of force. Georgia claimed that Russia had targeted the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline with at least 30 missiles, although none had hit it.

The U.S. warned of “dangerous and disproportionate action” by Moscow.

In a statement issued in Beijing, the White House said the “dangerous escalation” of conflict could have a “significant long-term impact on U.S.-Russia relations.” President George W. Bush, who where he is attending the Olympics, said: “The attacks are occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. They mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis.”

Nicolas Sarkozy, French president and currently in the chair of the EU, announced an emergency trip to Russia in an bid to negotiate a ceasefire. Bernard Kouchner, his foreign minister, was flying to Tbilisi last night before heading for the Russian capital.

As the Russian army consolidated its position in South Ossetia, Moscow’s overall aims were yet to be made clear. Russia’s president Dmitry Medvedev on Sunday said that Georgia should unconditionally withdraw its forces from the conflict zone and sign a pledge not to attack South Ossetia.

Georgia’s president Mikheil Saakashvili accused Russia of seeking to take over his country. “They want the whole of Georgia,” he said in a magazine interview. Officials said the Georgian armed forces had suffered heavy losses before they withdrew from South Ossetia.

In New York, the United Nations Security Council met to tackle the mounting crisis and the U.S. and other Western states were expected to press for a formal U.N. resolution demanding a ceasefire in what envoys described as the most serious world crisis in years.

At least two thousand people, including soldiers and civilians, are estimated to have died on both sides.

Moscow has yet to respond to individual appeals from its Security Council partners to end the fighting after Georgia said it was pulling its troops out.

Vitaly Churkin, Russian ambassador to the U.N., said the Georgian announcement had yet to be matched by developments on the ground. “If they want to pull out, they are welcome to do that,” he said.

The U.N.’s fourth emergency session in three days was marked by a stiff exchange between the Russian and U.S. envoys, reminiscent of the Cold War.

Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to the UN, said Russia was guilty of grave violations of Georgia’s territory and had shown intransigence in the face of international demands for a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Irakli Alasania, Georgia’s ambassador to the U.N., accused Russia of indiscriminate bombing of civilian populations that he said could not be defended in the face of Russia’s peacekeeping mission in the region.

In Washington, the crisis prompted a clash between the Republican and Democratic camps, with John McCain accusing Barack Obama’s campaign of “siding with the Kremlin.”

Mr. McCain was responding to a statement by the Obama campaign that highlighted the role of a senior McCain adviser who previously lobbied for the government of Georgia.

In Abkhazia, separatist leaders deployed troops and heavy weapons along the ceasefire line, according to Edmond Mulet of the U.N.’s peacekeeping department. International observers had reported the bombardment of nearby Georgian villages.

--Additional reporting by Catherine Belton in Moscow.