Shellings Continue in Tskinvali
While Georgian Defense Minister Giorgi Baramidze and Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolutions Goga Khaindrava continue their talks with top Russian officials, outbreaks of violence continue in the breakaway republic of South Ossetia.
The Russian news agency Itar-tass reported that overnight shelling in the region raged throughout the night before being halted at 7:35 a.m Wednesday morning.
“The Georgian side fired from the villages of Tamarasheni, Vanati and Prizi using artilery, mortars and machine guns,” Itar-Tass quotes the headquarters of the Joint Peacekeeping Force in South Ossetia as saying after the shootouts.
The shootouts occur just as the two Georgian Ministers wrap-up a two-day visit to Moscow in which talks were held between the two men and several Russian officials, including Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.
Earlier, on August 10, the Russian Defense Minister announced Russia’s intention to hand-over the Russian military facilities operating in the regions of Georgia to the Georgian authorities, saying that “we [Russia] do not need these facilities.”
But no official comment has been made by either side regarding the outcome of discussions between the Georgian delegation and Russian authorities involving tensions in breakaway South Ossetia, considered to be the central issue that prompted the Georgian Minister’s departure to Moscow on August 9.
Conflicting reports have emerged regarding casualties during the latest skirmish outside of Tskinvali, capital of South Ossetia. Itar-tass reports a spokesman for the Joint Peacekeeping Force in South Ossetia as having “no information about casualties among the conflicting sides’ troops” while Irina Gagloyeva, spokeswoman for the South Ossetian de-facto authorities, reported two wounded from the South Ossetian side.
The Georgian side has yet to make any comment regarding the most recent confrontation in the South Ossetian conflict zone.
