Translated material
Tank traffic jams
The General Staff explained the reasons for the slow withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia
Yesterday, the withdrawal of military units assigned to Russian peacekeepers from the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone continued. In the evening, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the first time outlined specific deadlines for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia: “I think it will take literally three to four days.” And a little later, in a telephone conversation with the President of France, Dmitry Medvedev said: “By August 22, after the completion of the checkpoint and deployment sites, some of the peacekeepers will be withdrawn to a temporary security zone determined by the decision of the Joint Control Commission (for conflict resolution) of 1999. The rest of the contingent, reinforced by the peacekeepers, will be withdrawn to the territory of South Ossetia and Russia.”Washington still refuses to believe that the withdrawal of troops has already begun (referring to unclear sources of information), and continues to unceremoniously push Moscow on. Already in the evening, US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said that the United States “does not see any evidence” of the withdrawal of Russian troops from the conflict zone in Georgia. At the same time, he claimed that Washington has information about the “implementation of the agreements reached” on the part of Georgia. When asked by an ITAR-TASS correspondent what this statement was based on, Wood replied: “On the messages we receive.”
Meanwhile, the General Staff of the Russian Army explained yesterday why the withdrawal will take longer than the introduction of military formations into the conflict zone.
The troops entered South Ossetia quickly - it was necessary to save people. Now, according to the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Colonel General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Russian units need to collect property, check it, and load it. While the rear units and some of the military equipment are being withdrawn, the advanced units will leave at the final stage of the operation.
The withdrawal of troops is also complicated by the fact that roads need to be cleared - the Georgian army abandoned a large amount of equipment, including tanks. In addition, the order of the President of Georgia on the withdrawal of Georgian troops to places of permanent deployment, according to a representative of the Russian General Staff, is not being implemented. “We daily detect, detect and disarm unspecified groups of armed military personnel without any control or subordination to the Georgian side,” said General Nogovitsyn. This seriously complicates the situation and interferes with the withdrawal of troops. The base is being prepared for peacekeeping posts, which, in accordance with the agreements, are set up as an additional security measure. The arrangement of the posts is planned to be completed by August 22, after which the withdrawal of units will begin more intensively.
According to Russian military intelligence, the Georgian side is preparing sabotage. In the meantime, Georgia is waging an intense information war, loudly informing the world community: Russian troops have blocked the main Georgian highway (M-27), they have occupied the Poti port and blown up a section of the railway near the village of Kaspi. In response to this, the Russian military command stated that military units do not occupy Georgian cities and other settlements, but take “control of bases and weapons depots” abandoned by the retreating Georgian army. Including in the area of the cities of Gori, Senaki and Poti.
Georgian media reported on Tuesday that in Batumi, Georgian law enforcement officers detained three Russian agents who were monitoring the Batumi port, where an American warship with humanitarian aid is expected to arrive soon. And if the Georgian side was unable to provide details of the capture of the “spies,” then Russian security forces on Monday in the Poti region (the presence of Russian troops in which, however, was previously denied) disarmed a group of 20 Georgian military personnel, three of whom were Arabs. The militants, according to General Nogovitsyn, were driving five Hummers and a truck, armed to the teeth.
Finally, the work on the exchange of prisoners got off the ground. Yesterday in the Gori region of Georgia, the Russian side, in the presence of representatives of the Red Cross and the French Ambassador to Georgia Eric Fournier, handed over 15 people to Georgia, receiving five of their own, including two pilots. All those released were transported to Tskhinvali, where they are provided with medical care. The Georgian side stated that it had no more Russian prisoners. The parties pledged to continue cooperation in the field of prisoner exchange.
New facts have become known characterizing the nature of the retreat of the Georgian army. “Apparently, the equipment was left in a panic - serviceable, with running engines and almost full ammunition, which speaks volumes about the fighting spirit of the Georgian military,” noted Colonel Nikolai Ostrin, head of the missile and artillery service of the North Caucasus Military District. It was decided not to remove the ammunition, but to destroy it on the spot.
As of yesterday, about 140 units of weapons had been collected at the collection point for damaged vehicles, including 24 T-72 tanks of various modifications, 15 armored vehicles, heavy artillery weapons, dozens of mortars and 900 units of small arms - mainly American and Czech production. Most samples were produced in 2007 and 2008. The military highlights the Czech 152-mm self-propelled howitzer-gun "Dana" and the Russian-made Osa mobile anti-aircraft missile system. After the “Wasp” was finalized in Ukraine, its “friend or foe” identification system learned to identify NATO aircraft as its own, and Russian aircraft as someone else’s. In the Abkhaz direction, Russian peacekeepers seized more than 5 million pieces of ammunition and 242 small arms. The Russian Ministry of Defense does not intend to return “not a single cartridge” to the Georgian side.
Based on the lessons of the conflict, President Dmitry Medvedev considered it necessary to make adjustments to the development of the armed forces. Participants in the operation, during a meeting with the president in Vladikavkaz on Monday, complained to him that during the fighting, “the Russian infantry fighting vehicle showed itself worse than its Georgian counterpart.” “Our weapons must be no worse, and we will take care of this,” Mr. Medvedev promised. The Ministry of Defense will soon submit proposals to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on the development of the combat and social component of the Russian armed forces, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov assured. An additional 40 billion rubles have already been allocated for the development of the social component. - this is what the president decided.
According to the Russian General Staff, warships from the United States, Canada and Poland are being introduced into the Black Sea by the end of August. A detachment of ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet is now “ready to carry out maritime military transportation of peacekeeping forces from Abkhazia to Novorossiysk.” Perhaps we should hurry up with this, otherwise the “guests” could block the entrance to Sevastopol Bay, some senior Russian military officials warn.
Tu-95MS strategic bombers are on combat duty in shifts over the Black Sea. “This is not a flexing of muscles,” said Anatoly Nogovitsyn, “there is a decision by the President of the Russian Federation, and the Russian Air Force performs tasks on shift combat duty in various strategic directions.” At the same time, the general denied allegations of plans to equip the Russian Baltic Fleet with nuclear weapons in response to the deployment of elements of the American missile defense system in Europe.
“We will fulfill our obligations based on six principles,” the Colonel General assured. “We will do this at the pace dictated by the situation.” Russia will leave in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict a group sufficient to carry out peacekeeping tasks, and its number will be determined by the country's leadership, a representative of the Russian General Staff said.