Translated material
News from the fields
The Russian military admitted for the first time that not only contract soldiers fought in Georgia
The withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgian territory continues. After its completion, a security zone of two lines of posts will be established along the administrative border of South Ossetia. The first of eight posts is under the responsibility of the peacekeeping contingent; 272 peacekeepers will serve there. The second, out of ten posts, is along the administrative border of the unrecognized republic, the number of personnel here is 180 people. There will be a buffer zone between the lines. The city of Gori will not be included in the security zone. Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Colonel General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, painted approximately this picture of the peacekeeping configuration yesterday.Russian troops removed several checkpoints near Gori, according to local Georgian authorities, and moved to the base of the Georgian Ministry of Defense. The Georgian authorities are confident that the Russian military will blow it up when they leave.
Flights of Georgian aviation over the zones of responsibility of peacekeepers in Abkhazia and South Ossetia should be prohibited - the Russian military insists on this. This provision will most likely be specified in the peacekeeping force's mandate. As evidence of this need, on Tuesday evening the Russian military shot down a Georgian reconnaissance drone in the conflict area.
In response to the American side’s demand to return to Georgia captured American-made weapons left in Poti before the planned exercises with the Georgian army, the Russian military, in fact, showed the fig. “We are not going to hand over the trophies anywhere,” said Colonel General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, a representative of the General Staff, indignantly. Most of the trophies will be disposed of. Any supply of weapons to the Georgian army, especially from NATO, is “clearly a provoking factor for another blitzkrieg,” General Nogovitsyn explained. Yesterday, it became known from Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces Vladimir Moltensky that Russian troops in South Ossetia had the latest weapons, but did not use them because “there was no need.”
The military continues to summarize the campaign in Georgia based on newly received data. It became abundantly clear that all four lost Russian aircraft were shot down by Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile systems sold or transferred by Ukraine. Their division was stationed next to the main command post of the Georgians near the city of Gori. In addition, it became known that the location of the peacekeeping battalion was shown on captured Georgian military maps. The maps were created based on space intelligence, which the Georgians do not have.
Decisions are also made based on the lessons of the armed conflict. In 2009, serial production of the modernized BMD-4 airborne combat vehicle will begin. It will significantly enhance the firepower of the Russian Airborne Forces. By the way, the BMD-4 is exhibited in the open area of the International Salon of Arms and Military Equipment taking place in Moscow. In addition, the state weapons program will be revised “towards the primary development of high-precision weapons and equipment.”
What was unexpected was yesterday’s admission by a representative of the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate of the Russian General Staff that “we actually had a small number of conscripts in combat operations.” Mainly from units stationed in the Vladikavkaz area. And although the general referred to a law that allows trained military personnel to be involved in combat operations, the Public Chamber has already promised to look into the situation. Previously, the Russian military categorically denied information about the participation of conscripts in hostilities on Georgian territory.
Yesterday, the Russian Ministry of Defense presented updated data on Russian losses: 323 wounded and shell-shocked, 64 dead (previously the figure was 74), no missing persons - full information was received on 19 servicemen who were considered missing. The military is ready to publish a full list of losses. The Georgian Commission for the Search of Dead and Missing Persons reported: as a result of military actions on the Georgian side, 215 people were killed. Of these, 13 are employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 133 are employees of the Ministry of Defense, 69 are civilians. 1,469 people were injured, 446 of them are being treated in hospitals.
Yesterday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov promised that Ukraine would not interfere with the return to Sevastopol of the Black Sea Fleet ships that took part in the operation to force Georgia to peace.