WSJ: War Report to Place Responsibility on Both Sides

A 900-page report, which will be released by the EU-funded mission probing into the August war on September 30, will lay responsibility on both, Moscow and Tbilisi, The Wall Street Journal said on September 28 quoting a source close to the mission.

The newspaper also quotes a senior Georgian official as saying that last Friday Tbilisi sent fresh documents to Heidi Tagliavini, the head of the mission.

“The documents, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, consist of court records from a trial in Russia of a soldier caught stealing. The records suggest the soldier was sent to South Ossetia on Aug. 4, three days before the outbreak of hostilities. Georgia believes the records support its case that Russian forces were already assembling in South Ossetia before the war, in preparation for attack,” The Wall Street Journal writes.

Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Davit Jalagonia said on September 28 that Europe should pay more attention to which country carried out aggression against which country, rather than “which military was the first to cock gun.”

“Whatever the details of the mentioned document may be, the fact is certain – which country carried out aggression against which country and who occupies whose territories illegally and who is an occupant – this fact is certain, but it does not reduce interest towards the mentioned document,” he said at a press conference on September 28.

The Wall Street Journal also writes that the mission finally managed to question Marat Kulakhmetov, the commander of the Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia. Kulakhmetov, who disappeared from public view after the August war, accompanied the Russian delegation during the Geneva discussions.

The EU-funded inquiry mission will present its report to UN, EU, OSCE, Georgia and Russia. Initially the mission was to produce conclusions by July 31, but later it was postponed by late September. 

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)