Putin: War has started

Spectator wire services
Saturday, Aug 9, 2008

GORI, Georgia — Russia conducted airstrikes on Georgian targets tonight, escalating the conflict in a separatist area of Georgia that is shaping into a test of the power and military reach of an emboldened Kremlin.

Earlier in the day, Russian troops and armoured vehicles had rolled into South Ossetia, supporting the breakaway region in its bitter conflict with Georgia.

The United States and other Western nations, joined by NATO, condemned the violence and demanded a cease-fire. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice went a step further, calling on Russia to withdraw its forces. But the Russian soldiers remained, and Georgian officials reported at least one airstrike, on the Black Sea port of Poti, late tonight.

Neither side showed any indication of backing down. Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia declared that “war has started,” and President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia accused Russia of a “well-planned invasion” and mobilized Georgia’s military reserves.There were signs as well of a cyber-warfare campaign against Georgia, as Georgian government websites were crashing intermittently during the day.

The escalation risked igniting a renewed and sustained conflict in the Caucasus region, an important conduit for the flow of oil from the Caspian Sea to world markets and an area where conflict has flared for years along Russia’s borders, most recently in Chechnya.The military incursion into Georgia marked a fresh sign of Kremlin confidence and resolve, and also provided a test of the capacities of the Russian military, which Putin had tried to modernize and re-equip during his two presidential terms.

Frictions between Georgia and South Ossetia, which has declared de facto independence, have simmered for years, but intensified when Saakashvili came to power in Georgia and made national unification a centrepiece of his agenda.Saakashvili, a close American ally who has sought NATO membership for Georgia, is loathed at the Kremlin, in part because he had positioned himself as a spokesperson for democracy movements and alignment with the West.Earlier this year, Russia announced that it was broadly expanding support for the separatist regions.

Georgia labelled the new support an act of annexation.Reports conflicted throughout the day about whether Georgian or Russian forces had won control of Tskhinvali, the capital of the mountainous rebel province. It was unclear late tonight whether ground combat had taken place between Russian and Georgian soldiers, or had been limited to fighting between separatists and Georgian forces.