It's not over yet

On August 14, information appeared that the city of Gori August was already under the control of Georgian forces. In any case, both Russian and Georgian officials spoke about this. The representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Major General Vyacheslav Borisov, met with the Secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia, Kakha Lomaia, at night and agreed that “Russian troops will no longer enter the city, people can establish a normal life.” This does not quite agree with the Russian military’s repeated statements on August 13 that troops did not enter Gori at all. The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs reports that local police units have returned to the city. The day before, Georgia accused Russia of allowing its forces to allow gangs (which apparently meant Ossetians and Cossacks) to loot.

However, later reports appeared that the Russian military had returned to Gori and that gunfire was again heard in the city. A Gazeta.Ru correspondent in Georgia, citing local sources, said that the Russian military is also operating in Poti and Senaki. In Poti they destroy facilities at the coast guard base, in Senaki they carried out an explosion at a military base. Russia again denies that it has troops in Poti and Senaki. Reuters reported that at least ten Russian vehicles carrying armed men and more than 100 pieces of military equipment were seen near Zugdidi.

Finally, the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces admitted that reconnaissance groups with several armored personnel carriers were moving to the Gori area.

Meanwhile, the United States continues to accuse Russia of not fulfilling its own promises to end the operation and threaten international isolation. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that "information about Russia's compliance with the ceasefire is not at all reassuring." President George W. Bush said that the United States was very concerned about reports of the capture of Gori, as well as the explosions of Georgian ships near the port of Poti (On August 13, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said that Russian forces were going to blow up ships directly in the port, but at the request of the Georgian leadership they did it in the open sea; Russia neither confirmed nor denied this information). Finally, unnamed Bush administration sources told CNN that Russia has deployed additional troops to the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the United States will have to choose between real partnership with Russia and support for its “virtual project”, which is the current Georgian leadership. In response to this, Rice said that Russia is thinking well of its neighbors if it compares the leadership of Georgia with someone else's project.