Georgia determined to avoid armed conflict

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has appealed to the government to prevent the implementation of the plan "of foreign powers to involve Georgia in an armed conflict in its own territory." Speaking at a meeting of the Georgian Security Council today, the President appealed to the government to take measures to guarantee the security of civilians in the conflict area, and to prevent an ethnic cleansing against Georgians and a humanitarian disaster. Additionally, according to the head of state, it is necessary to prevent the resumption of the smuggling of goods into Georgia via South Ossetia.

Saakashvili linked the latest increase in tension in South Ossetia to the fact that Ossetian bands had tried to take control of a bypassing road going to the Georgian villages so that to capture the villages at a later stage. "The Georgian peacekeepers have shown resistance to them and defended the villages, although the forces were not equal. As a result, three Georgian servicemen were killed," the President added.

The Georgian parliament is now preparing a statement on the situation in South Ossetia. According to preliminary information, the parliament is accusing Russian peacekeepers of disrupting the peace process between Georgia and South Ossetia, as in the lawmakers' opinion, the Russian peacekeepers are lobbying for the interests of the self-proclaimed republic.