BRUSSELS. Russia’s permanent mission to NATO said in a statement it disagreed with Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer’s assessment of Russia’s peace enforcement operation and efforts to protect Russian peacekeepers and civilians in South Ossetia.

The NATO leader accused Russia of using excessive force in South Ossetia.“We would agree to hear the opinions of human rights groups, whose goal is to see that human rights are observed, but we won’t have a lecture from a military bloc,” the Russian mission’s statement read.

“Otherwise, we’ll have to remind the world of the ostensibly proportionate use of force against the people and armed forces of Serbia, and how democratic values were enforced through the destruction of that country’s cities, the bombing of Belgrade, tearing down bridges and damaging other infrastructurein the country,” it says.

TEL AVIV. Israel recognises Georgia’s territorial integrity and calls for peaceful settlement of conflicts there, that country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

“Israel has been following with mounting concern the developments in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, hoping that violence will stop,” it said in a statement adopted in the wake of a special meeting chaired by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

The Israeli ministry had earlier recommended its citizens to refrain from visiting Georgia or, for those currently staying in the conflict-ridden country, to inform Israeli diplomats of their whereabouts. Local media sources say that Israel was considering a complete termination of weapons and other military-purpose products exports to Georgia, but no official comments have been made. Israeli newspaper Maariv estimated the two countries’ military technical cooperationat $300 million.

MOSCOW. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday, August 10, that Russia was not making the restoration of peace in the conflict zone conditional on President Saakashvili’s future. He told reporters that Rice had misinterpreted their conversation, and was trying to make it sound as if peace in South Ossetia was impossible unless Saakashvili stepped down.“If Georgian forces pull out of South Ossetia, and a non-use of force agreement is signed between Georgia and South Ossetia, peace in the region will be restored irrespective of Saakashvili’s future,” the minister said.

Russia’s Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin expressed astonishment at Tbilisi’s reaction to President Medvedev’s refusal to talk with Saakashvili.“Will any decent person speak with the Georgian president now?” he asked at a UN Security Council meeting.

After reminding the meeting that Georgia was the one to unleash the war against South Ossetia, the Russian diplomat said: “Saakashvili kept assuring us until the very last moment that he had not the slightest intention of using force against his own people.”

Saakashvili made similar pledges to the international community as well, Churkin added. Moscow has made its position clear: it will agree to negotiate with Georgia over South Ossetia only after Georgian forces pull out and a non-use of force agreement is signed. Churkin suggested that the heads of secretariat of the UN Security Council must have failed to study thoroughly and objectively the situation in South Ossetia.

MOSCOW. Cuba supports Russia’s actions in South Ossetia, said Raul Castro, president of the Central American country as quoted by Reuters. Castro has backed Russia’s demand of Georgia’s unconditional pullout from South Ossetia.

“It is not true that Georgia is protecting its national sovereignty. It is only fair to demand a pullout of an aggressor, and our government supports this demand,” he said

TSKHINVAL. Four days after the beginning of the Georgian aggression against South Ossetia, the situation in Tskhinval is returning to normal. RIA Novosti has reported that shooting had almost stopped around the city by Monday night. The Mi-24 combat helicopters left for their bases in North Ossetia some time ago.

Peace is returning to Tskhinval. The first sign of normality after the Georgian bombings on August 8 and 9 was the arrival of an auto convoy from Russia carrying food and water, which are scarce in Tskhinval now, as well as diesel generators to produce electricity, the supply of which had been disrupted. Medics are working at two Russian mobile hospitals set up in the yard of the republican hospital, which has been severely damaged by the shelling. The people in Tskhinval need qualified assistance with their physical and psychological wounds.

Psychologists say it is especially difficult to help people in the Caucasus deal with their stress, because they are not used to showing their grief publicly. Thepsychological echo of the war will reverberate for a long time, they say.

DZHAVA. Some 60 to 70 20-seat buses have arrived in Tskhinval to evacuate people from South Ossetia, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported. Russia is providing all-out support to the people of South Ossetia. North Ossetia has been taking in refugees for three days now, and all children from Tskhin val are planned to be evacuated in the next 24 hours. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry is sending motor convoys carrying humanitarian aid and planning to set up mobile hospitals in Tskhinval, where they are most needed.

MOSCOW. The Russian army units sent to Abkhazia include more than 9,000 troops and 350 armoured vehicles, Alexander Novitsky, aide to the commander of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces in Abkhazia, told RIA Novosti.“To reinforce the joint peacekeeping force, an additional group has been deployed to an airborne troop’s base in Abkhazia. Its task is to prevent a repetition of what happened to Russian peacekeepers in Tskhinval, to thwart Georgia’s possible military aggression against Abkhazia, to protect civilians, and to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe or provocations in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone,” he said.

MOSCOW. The postal service between Russia and Georgia has been suspended, Russia’s Communications Ministry spokesperson Yelena Laskina told RIA Novosti.

“Letters and packages for Georgia aren’t accepted because the air service has been suspended, which is the main channel for correspondence,” she said. Money transfer is impossible too, because of a technical breakdown in thecommunications network.

MOSCOW. Georgian troops have blown up a water utility in the western part of Tskhinval, flooding the basements of local buildings where residents sheltered during the shelling, according to a post on the South Ossetian information and press committee’s website, which also specified the exact locationswhich suffered from the flooding.

MOSCOW. The Joint Peacekeeping Forces issued an ultimatum to Georgia on August 11, demanding a complete demilitarisation of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict area, Alexander Novitsky, aide to the commander of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces in Abkhazia, told RIA Novosti.

The “ground-arms” ultimatum was given to the Georgian army units deployed on the border with Abkhazia, because we cannot allow an escalation of the military confrontation, Russia’s Defence Ministry said.

According to the ministry’s information a well-armed 1,500-strong Georgian special forces brigade (not the police) was concentrated in Georgia’s Zugdidi District, which is part of the so-called security zone controlled by peacekeepers.“The ultimatum was issued to prevent the escalation of the military confrontation because there is a possibility of provocations by Georgian special forces,” a ministry official said.

Novitsky said that all Georgian armed units stationed in the conflict zone were required to surrender their arms at the nearest checkpoint of the CIS peacekeeping force, where their unit’s name and status has to be registered and the arms surrendered listed.

“Those who refuse to give in their arms will be subject to enforcement measures,”

MOSCOW. US military transport aircraft have brought 800 Georgian soldiers
with armoured vehicles from Iraq, Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy
chief of the Russian General Staff, told RIA Novosti.
“The US jets made eight flights to bring Georgian servicemen home from Iraq,”

TSKHINVAL DISTRICT. A Russian Emergencies Ministry convoy carrying humanitarian aid to the city was stopped from entering Tskhinval by renewed shelling.

The convoy halted ten kilometers from the capital city of the self-proclaimed republic to let military vehicles pass first, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported. RIA Novosti has information that Georgian forces have resumed shelling of residential areas, including the area around the hospital, where the convoy was headed and where it was expected several hours ago. The military authorities stopped the convoy at a safe distance because they did not want the rescue workers to risk their lives. The rescuers couldn’t even hear the cannonade from there.

The situation has reportedly grown tense in the past two hours. Military vehicles keep moving in the direction of the city. Civilian traffic hasn’t been suspended, however, and isolated militia groups are arriving in the city, usually carrying small arms and light weapons. Fighter helicopters are flying over towards the city from time to time.

No information is available so far on the time the aid convoy will reach Tskhinval, because the Emergencies officers have to report to the army headquarters in this situation.

MOSCOW. There is a danger of the armed conflict spreading to Abkhazia, Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, said at a news conference at RIA Novosti.“If a similar conflict occurs in Abkhazia, Russian peacekeepers and other forces will act accordingly,” the general emphasised. He said peacekeepers in Abkhazia have the same orders as in South Ossetia, namely their task is to contain and prevent bloodshed. Another important taskin Abkhazia is to prevent violations of the truce signed in 1992.

MOSCOW. Georgian forces have resumed the shelling of Tskhinval, Irina Gagloyeva,
head of the South Ossetian Information and Press Committee, told RIA Novosti by telephone.

“They started artillery fire an hour ago and have fired six times,” she said. She also said fire was open to suppress Georgian firing posts. No information on casualties was available at that point.

The Georgian government earlier said it was pulling out armed forces from the conflict zone. The Russian Emergencies Ministry aid convoy arrived in Tskhinval at 3:50 p.m. Moscow time, RIA Novosti reported. It was not attacked.

A total of 80 vehicles carrying humanitarian cargo were sent to South Ossetia from North Ossetia on August 11. Rescue teams headed to Tskhinval to remove
debris and search for survivors.

MOSCOW. More than 360 Russians have complained that Georgian authorities are preventing them from leaving the country, said Boris Malakhov, deputy spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“There are more than 360 people now,” he told a news conference at RIA Novosti. According to Malakhov, the Russian Embassy in Georgia has received complaints in the past few days from Russian citizens detained by Georgian police and sent back as they were trying to leave the country.

“The police stopped them from reaching Sarbi, a checkpoint on the Turkish border, Sadakhlo on the Armenian border, and Tbilisi,” Malakhov said.“We are concerned over Russian citizens forced to stay in Georgia. This is a violation of international law,” he added.

“Russian citizens cannot be left unprotected, wherever they are. Their interests are our sacred responsibility,” the diplomat concluded.

TSKHINVAL. Russia’s Defence Ministry has put up a mobile bakery in the village of Dzhava (South Ossetia) and arranged for water supply to refugees, a source in the Russian peacekeeping force headquarters told RIA Novosti on Monday.

“The tent bakery in Dzhava is capable of making six tons of bread a day, to feed 9,200 people. A water delivery group is also stationed in the village, operating eight water tank vehicles to supply the refugees. Bottled water will be provided as well if necessary,” the source added.

He said the Russian army’s logistics service planned to purchase field kitchens, tents, tank cars, and tarpaulin to protect supplies for the refugees.“They began serving hot meals to refugees on August 11,” he added.

MOSCOW. At least six Georgian attack helicopters are bombing the outskirts of Tskhinval, Reuters reported, adding that the Georgian army was violating Tbilisi’s earlier ceasefire statement. The news said clouds of black smoke were seen above the targets hit. The targets were not specified.

MOSCOW. The military units sent to reinforce Russian peacekeepers in the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict zone include two companies from the Defence Ministry’s special Zapad and Vostok battalions permanently deployed inChechnya, RIA Novosti was told by a ministry official.

TSKHINVAL. Four days into Georgia’s aggression against South Ossetia, the situation in Tskhinval is gradually stabilising. Shooting quieted down on Monday night, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported. Russian artillery and air force have successfully suppressed Georgia’s fire emplacements on the commanding heights surrounding Tskhinval. The ceasefire enabled Russian rescue workers who arrived in Tskhinval on Monday to begin putting up two field hospitals. They will be ready to treat patients on Tuesday. Relief workers also plan to start distributing humanitarian
aid among city residents on Tuesday.

Emergencies Ministry rescue teams, which accompanied the humanitarian aid convoy, are ready to begin searching for victims who could still be buried inthe rubble and debris of buildings.

MOSCOW. Psychologists and psychotherapists are needed in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, where the injured and refugees are arriving from South Ossetia, Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu said.

“The people are arriving in a difficult [psychological] condition. We need approximately 25 more psychologists,” the minister said during an intercom conference between Moscow, Vladikavkaz and Tskhinval. Shoigu said some of them would work in Tskhinval and others in the temporary refugee camps in Vladikavkaz. Russian Healthcare and Social Development Minister Tatyana Golikova said the additional specialists would be dispatched soon.“We will coordinate the time of the plane’s departure tomorrow,” she said.

MOSCOW/TSKHINVAL/TBILISI/VLADIKAVKAZ. Russian peacekeepers and reinforcements have succeeded in reversing the trend in South Ossetia, where Georgia’s August 8 attack provoked a humanitarian catastrophe, killing 1,600 civilians and several peacekeepers.

Russia has by now completed the essential part of its peace enforcement operation in Georgia, and Tskhinval came under control of the peacekeeping force, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday, adding that the peacemaking operation would be carried through to a logical conclusion.

Russian forces are carrying out preventive measures in the vicinity of Senaki, a town in Georgia where a military base is deployed, not to allow a new aggression against South Ossetia, a Defence Ministry official told RIA Novosti. Peacekeepers reported destruction of two Georgian helicopters, Mi-8 and Mi- 24, at the Senaki base.

The Russian government is currently focusing on providing humanitarian aid to South Ossetian refugees and people still located in the conflict area. According to the Ministry of the Interior, over 30,000 refugees have crossed into Russia in the past few days. The government will issue lump sum payments to the victims of the conflict. They will also be entitled to compensations for lost housing and possessions.

The government will also allocate 21 million roubles to the North Ossetian budget for targeted financial support to non-working South Ossetian pensioners who fled to Russia during the conflict, said Sergei Sobyanin, deputy prime minister and government chief of staff.

The 10 billion roubles Russia plans to provide for the restoration of South Ossetia has been earmarked in the 2009 federal budget, and additional allocations can be made this year as well, said Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. Investigators from the Prosecutor General’s Office have begun interrogating the victims of the conflict in order to bring charges against those responsible for the tragedy, also at the international level, the investigation committee head, Alexander Bastrykin, told reporters in Vladikavkaz.

Some 30 investigators are already working in the self-proclaimed republic. President Dmitry Medvedev instructed the committee on August 10 to collect and document all evidence of crimes committed in South Ossetia, condemning Georgia’s actions there as genocide.

MOSCOW. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Ukrainian Parliamentary Speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk in a telephone conversation that warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet were stationed off Abkhazia to protect Russian citizens and help peacekeepers, announced the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department of Information and the Press.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said earlier it reserved the right not to allow the warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, currently deployed off Georgia, to return to Sevastopol.

Lavrov and Yatsenyuk exchanged opinions on the situation in South Ossetia. The Russian foreign minister “stressed the need to ensure immediate withdrawal of Georgian troops from the conflict zone and to sign an agreement on the non-use of military force between Georgia and South Ossetia,” the ministry reports.

“In the light of the current situation, the sides also discussed risks created by arms supplies to Georgia.” South Ossetian authorities said that Ukraine had supplied 40 sniper rifles to Georgia, which were later used to shoot at civilians in Tskhinval. It was subsequently reported that a Russian aircraft was downed over Georgia by a Ukrainian missile.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said military technical cooperation with Georgia was legitimate and meeting the essence of “friendly relations and norms of international law.”