Medvedev: Russia will Protect its Citizens in S.Ossetia

Russia will protect its citizens wherever they are and punish the perpetrators, President Medvedev said on August 8, while commenting on the situation in South Ossetia.
 
Russian President Dimitri Medvedev said Russia would punish those guilty of inflicting human casualties.  
 
“Our key task is to maintain peace. Russia historically was and will be a guarantor of security of the Caucasian people,” Medvedev said in a televised address on August 8. “Tonight Georgian troops essentially carried out an act of aggression against Russian peacekeepers and a peaceful population. What has happened is a rough violation of international law, as well as the mandates granted to Russia by the international community as be a partner in the peace settlement.”
 
“The actions of the Georgian side have led to human casualties, including among Russian peacekeepers. The situation has reached the point, where the peacekeepers from the Georgian side were shooting at the Russian peacekeepers, together with whom they were obliged to perform their mission on the maintenance of peace in the region,” he said.

The Russian president also said that peaceful residents, women, children and old people, were dying in South Ossetia and “most of them are citizens of the Russian Federation.”

“In accordance with the Russian Constitution, I, as the president of the Russian Federation, am obliged to defend the lives and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are. The logic of moves taken by us is dictated by these circumstances. We will not leave unpunished the deaths of our compatriots. The perpetrators will be punished,” he added.