U.S. may have staged Georgian conflict - Putin

Russia Today, August 28, 2008, 20:13

In an interview with CNN Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict may have been staged to secure a victory for one of the presidential candidates in the U.S. He says preliminary reports show that U.S. citizens may have been present in the combat zone.

“We have serious reasons to believe that American citizens were right at the heart of the military action. This would have implications for American domestic policy. If this is confirmed, we will have grounds to suspect that somebody in the U.S. has created this conflict to aggravate the situation and create a competitive advantage for one of the presidential candidates”.

Russia’s Prime Minister also commented on the media coverage of the recent events.

“As far as the perception of these events by the general public goes, it depends not only on politicians, but also on how artful they are in controlling the mass media. And our American colleagues do this much better than we do and there's a lot we can learn from them”.

Putin stressed that Russia did not attack and cannot be portrayed as an aggressor.

“We didn’t attack anyone, we were attacked and therefore we need guarantees that we won’t be attacked again, and that our citizens won't be killed. They are trying to present us as aggressors”.

The Prime Minister has given a detailed chronology of the events between August 7 and 10.

“On 7 August, at 14:42, the Georgian peacekeepers left the headquarters of the peacekeeping forces under the pretext that they'd received orders from their commanders to leave their posts, and they never returned.

One hour later, heavy artillery shelling began.

At 22:35 a massive bombardment of Tsklhinval started. At 22:50 the transfer of Georgian ground troops started to the combat area. At the same time Georgian field hospitals were set up.

And at 23:30 the Brigadeer General commanding the Georgian peacekeeping forces announced that Georgia has declared a war against South Ossetia. They announced this publicly, looking straight into the TV cameras.

At that point we tried to contact the Georgian leadership, but everyone refused to talk to us.

At 12:45 AM on the 8th of August the Georgian commander repeated his statement. So who attacked whom?”

The former Russian president reiterated that the country has ‘no intention of attacking anyone, or of fighting a war with anyone’.

“For eight years while I was President I often heard one and the same question – what place does Russia think it should occupy in the world? We are a peace-loving state and want to co-operate with all our neighbours and other states. But if someone thinks they can just come in and kill us, and that our place is in the cemetery, these people should think of the consequences of such policies”.
 
SCO supports Russia’s role in South Ossetia

Russia Today, August 28, 2008, 23:37

Members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation have signed a declaration in support of Russia's peacekeeping mission in South Ossetia. The member states expressed support for Russia's peacekeeping efforts, but pointed out any solution must be based on the principle of territorial integrity.

The declaration is a direct response to President Dmitry Medvedev’s call to support Russia’s role in the Abkhazia and South Ossetia independence dispute. Speaking at the SCO summit in Dushanbe, Medvedev thanked the members for their understanding and objective evaluation of Russia’s peacekeeping mission.


Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is an alliance which was founded on the basis of the Shanghai Five (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia). Its priority and founding principle is security and stability in the Greater Central Asian region.

“Unfortunately, we have to state that attempts are being made to secure certain interests using force, not the principles of strict observance of international law and denial of confrontational bloc thinking,” said the President.

“A fine example of such irresponsible criminal actions is Georgia's aggression against South Ossetia. It is well-known who connived with the Georgian authorities and even incited them, pursuing their own profit. Such behavior is unacceptable and should be stopped. In such an extreme situation, we remained reserved and continued our responsible and predictable policy.

“We are confident that the position of SCO member states will produce an appropriate resonance through the international community, and I hope this will give a serious signal to those who are trying to justify the aggression that was committed,” Medvedev added in his address to SCO national leaders.