“Who started the war?”(Claims&Facts)
Factual Evidence Contradicts War Claims in Recent Media
OSCE Cautions on Drawing Conclusions Based on Incomplete Evidence
As second round of Geneva talks begin, question of “who started the war” takes center stage again; Georgia reinforces support for independent investigation
Note: includes comparing claims & facts
Several controversial recent reports have questioned the validity of well-documented Georgian claims that Russia initiated the hostilities. As participants prepare for the second round of EU/UN/OSCEsponsored talks in Geneva on the conflict between Russia and Georgia, it is now more necessary than ever to highlight independently confirmed accounts of Russia’s military and political aggression in the days and months leading up to full-scale war on August 7, 2008.
The OSCE has urged caution in drawing sweeping conclusions based on incomplete evidence, including comments made by OSCE officials during closed briefings. Specifically the OSCE stated that “monitoring activities in certain areas at certain times cannot be taken in isolation to provide a comprehensive account” of the conflict. Moreover, the United States Mission to the OSCE has dismissed “distractions” propagated by Russia and has argued for “practical steps forward, not point scoring.”
This document seeks to debunk the inaccurate and incomplete accounts in several respected media outlets, and to underscore the need for a full-scale, unbiased investigation of the war and its causes. Georgia has repeatedly called for such an independent, unbiased investigation since August 16, and looks forward to the investigation recently announced by European Union foreign ministers.
Claim
“Monitors heard nothing that would confirm Saakashvili’s claim that Georgian artillery attacks on Tskhinvali were in response to the shelling of ethnic Georgian villages.” (Boston Globe, Nov. 11)
Fact
This assertion contradicts an Aug. 8 OSCE Spot Report that confirms the ceasefire agreement was violated at approximately 10:00 p.m. on Aug. 7. The spot report states: “The temporary unilateral ceasefire ordered by President Saakashvili at around 19:00 was stable and also observed by the South Ossetian side for some hours until fire reportedly was exchanged again at around 22:00.” This also contradicts written notes of participants in the Aug. 8 OSCE briefing in Tbilisi, when former OSCE official Ryan Grist is reported to have confirmed the ceasefire violation. Numerous reports by eyewitnesses and villagers detail mortar attacks on Georgian villages in early August, including on the evening of Aug. 7 (see Nov. 14 RFE/RL article,“Eyewitness Accounts Confirm Shelling of Georgian Villages”). Anatoly Barankevich, chairman of the separatist security council in South Ossetia and a longstanding Russian military officer, told local television during the ceasefire period that Cossacks were headed to South Ossetia to “fight against Georgian forces”—an explicit act of aggression.
Claim
“If there had been heavy shelling in areas that Georgia claimed were shelled, then our people would have heard it, and they didn’t,” Commander Young said, according to the person who attended.” (New York Times, Nov. 7)
Fact
The three OSCE monitors who were in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali during the specific time could not have heard mortar shelling against the Georgian towns in question—particularly Avnevi, Kurta, and Prisi — since these towns are located more than 10 kilometers away. OSCE has publicly confirmed that with only three monitors in the area, it did not have the necessary manpower to verify or dismiss accusations of the ceasefire violations.Georgia has consistently called for the deployment of more OSCE monitors in Georgian- and separatist-controlled villages, a move that Russia has consistently blocked.
Claim
“[M]onitors, who were on the ground in the breakaway region of South Ossetia when hostilities commenced the night of Aug. 7, reported seeing Georgian artillery and rocket launchers assembling just outside South Ossetia at 3 p.m. that day, well before any Russian convoy had crossed into the enclave.” (Boston Globe, Nov. 11)
Fact
The Georgian government officially reported this movement, which was in response to two earlier events:
At 2:00 p.m. on Aug. 7, two Georgian peacekeepers and eight civilians were killed after a checkpoint in Avnevi was shelled from Khetagurovo. The OSCE has confirmed the exchange of fire in this area, and intercepted phone calls by separatist militia confirming the Georgian fatalities. At 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 7, Georgian officials received intelligence that Russian regular army forces had entered Georgian territory and that other troops had been put on high alert.
Claim
“Georgia has released telephone intercepts indicating that a Russian armored column apparently entered the enclave from Russia early on the Aug. 7…But the intercepts did not show the column’s size. The telephone intercepts in question are explicit: according to the translations published by the Times, the Russian column was comprised of “tanks, BMPs, and other armored vehicles” and was large enough “to crowd the Roki tunnel.”composition or mission…Russia insists it was simply a routine logistics train or troop rotation.” (New York Times, Nov. 7)
Fact
These troop movements, which Russia has not disputed, were a clear violation of the standing agreement that allowed such movements only during the daytime and required advance notification to the OSCE and the Georgian government a month before any new rotations. Moreover, tanks are banned from the region. Only after the release of the transcripts did Russia admit that its troops had entered South Ossetia during the early hours of Aug. 7. Western intelligence further confirmed these intercepts, independently concluding that two battalions of Russia’s 135th Regiment moved through the Roki tunnel late on Aug. 7 or early on Aug. 8 – as reported in the Times story. Western and Russian media outlets documented the deployment of Russian forces and mercenaries in South Ossetia in early August, including on the morning of Aug. 7. Russian media sources included comments of identified Russian soldiers who reported the arrival of forces from the 58th Army in South Ossetia before and on Aug. 7.
Claim
“At 12:15 a.m. on Aug. 8, Gen. Maj. Marat M. Kulakhmetov, commander of Russian peacekeepers in the enclave, reported to the monitors that his unit had casualties, indicating that Russian soldiers had come under fire.” (New York Times, Nov. 7)
Fact
Kulakhmetov’s claim regarding peacekeeper casualties has not been independently confirmed.
V. Ivanov, Kulakhmetov’s deputy, argued that Russian peacekeepers were not directly targeted or hit on Aug. 8; his claim was confirmed to participants in Mr. Grist’s Aug. 8 OSCE Spot Briefing. Moreover, Georgian army units came under fire from the positions of Russian peacekeepers, despite repeated warnings.
Claim
“Each side has fresh lists of grievances about the other, which they insist are decisive. But both sides also have a record of misstatement and exaggeration, which includes circulating casualty estimates that have not withstood independent examination.” (New York Times, Nov. 7)
Facts
Many of Russia’s exaggerations have been swiftly denied. After Russia accused Georgia of genocide and reported 3,000 civilian deaths on Aug. 8, multiple sources quickly discredited the claims. Human Rights Watch concluded that Russia deliberately inflated its casualty figures, and noted that the difference between civilian and military casualties was blurred because of the role of South Ossetian paramilitary forces.
Human Rights Watch and other observers have documented cases of separatist militia attacking Georgian forces from civilian buildings, making them legitimate military targets, despite claims that such attacks have not been independently verified.Multiple independent international organizations have documented Russia’s shelling of Tskhinvali during the war by Georgian forces,despite assertions that such aggression has not been independently verified.
Claim
“The inescapable conclusion is that Saakashvili started the war and lied about it.”(Boston Globe, Nov. 11)
Facts
Such assertions portray an incomplete version of the story and omit critical context that includes years of political and military provocations, including:
The scale of destruction caused by Russian shelling;
Mass evacuations of civilians from South Ossetia beginning on Aug. 2;
Military maneuvers and large deployments of Russian troops to the Georgian border;
Russian violations of Georgian airspace and bombings of Georgian territory;
and Russian construction of large military bases in Tskhinvali and Java.
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