Russia/Georgia Situation News & Updates

reply to post by buddhasystem


According to Sky News, the Russian Defence Ministry says it has no troops in Gori.

Originally posted by chips
reply to post by RenegadePsycho

Yes. And now on Sky News on the ticker it says Russian Defence Ministry says there are no troops in Gori. So what the hell?? Maybe Russia have perfected cloning!! oooo imagine that!! no seriously.. Where did the 4 gunships i seen go? where did the 20 plus tanks go!?

CNN is confirming that one of its news crews in Gori witnessed Georgian forces fleeing rapidly from the city, but gave no confirmation of Russian forces advancing there. www.cnn.com...

Perhaps this fleeing is what everyone saw?

[edit on 8/11/2008 by AceWombat04]

reply to post by ArMaP


Thanks ArMap!! I think I will be keeping an eye on this web cam.

I have a bad feeling about all this

I'm pretty sure that was live footage, was it not? Could someone correct me on that?

Originally posted by chips
reply to post by buddhasystem

 

According to Sky News, the Russian Defence Ministry says it has no troops in Gori.

That's what I mean! They can be outside of the city and still fighting the Georgians, but they can always say they didn't occupy the city.

Originally posted by chips
I'm pretty sure that was live footage, was it not? Could someone correct me on that?

I can confirm that it WAS live footage! It read LIVE then switched to something else and said LATEST then when it went on to Gori it always had LIVE on it.

BBC TV - REUTERS: Russia says no Russian troops in Gori.

[edit on 11-8-2008 by chips]

Originally posted by chips
I'm pretty sure that was live footage, was it not? Could someone correct me on that?

It was not live and I m sure it was Georgian troops we saw.I could be wrong but I dont think i am and I v been tring to tell you all for 2 pages!

Russia military has just stated on the news that Russian forces are not IN Gori.

This may be a play on words. They are not IN the city itself, but they now clearly appear to be near and around it. I don't think their objective is to capture Gori.


But then there is still only a limited amount of Russian armor near Gori - not enough to move on to Tbilisi yet. Georgians have much more armor and defensive entrenchments near Tbilisi. Why would a small Russian contingent openly advance against much more numerous Georgian forces. This makes no tactical or strategical sense, yet it appears to be happening.

The Russians must have a complex strategy worked out and are now carrying out their plan of which no one knows much about. That is the only explanation I could give.

If they were truly aiming at occupying Georgia wouldn't you expect to see tens of thousands of Russian troops pouring across the border? This is not happening. There is no more than 1,000 -2,000 Russian troops near Gori. This looks more like a blitz special operation than an invasion.

So, to reiterate for those just joining the thread, the only occupation of Georgian territory thus far is in Senaki, and presumably, Zugdidi. Reports of an incursion into Gori can't be confirmed independently at this time, but reports of Georgian forces fleeing Gori are confirmed.

Is it possible that Georgia simply assumed, given what they saw as an advance and given their flight from Gori, that Russia would take the initiative and occupy it, and thus they reported it as having happened based on that assumption?

Perhaps Russia's plan is to force Georgian forces to fall back to Tblisi, thus reducing their capacity to wage war against the breakaway provinces. i.e. containment.

[edit on 8/11/2008 by AceWombat04]

I have the strange feeling that Russia is pretending to have troops on the ground just to provoke the Georgians, so they after can deny and present proofs of never being there, that they just attacked those towns without ground forces.

I have this feeling since I heard the reporter saying that there were no Russian troops in Tskhinvali or even signs of Russian troops, just South Ossetian troops, it made me feel that this has been more of a deceit game from Russia, while they have some (maybe a dozen, Georgia is a small country) aeroplanes and helicopters attacking from above and artillery firing from South Ossetia.

But I may be wrong.

There basically appears to be a comparatively small (100-150 pieces of armor, 1,000-2,000 troops in total) Russian military contingent moving around Gori and beyond it.

This is bad from the point of view of peace process. But this is absolutely exciting from the point of view of military strategy. What can they possibly be planning?


[edit on 11-8-2008 by maloy]

Originally posted by maloy
If they were truly aiming at occupying Georgia wouldn't you expect to see tens of thousands of Russian troops pouring across the border? This is not happening. There is no more than 1,000 -2,000 Russian troops near Gori. This looks more like a blitz special operation than an invasion.

Exactly. Outright occupation of Georgia would surely bring strong condemnation and sanctions from the West and outweigh any benefits of such action. Therefore, I suspect, Russians are merely planning on bleeding the Georgian military as best they can, to guarantee that the enemy does not have appetite to retake Ossetia for some time.

reply to post by ArMaP


Yes and some foreign reporters have stated that Gori is absolutely empty. No foreign reporters are able to verify that Russians have "taken" Gori. As in - nothing taking place there right now. We will see what is really taking place in the next few hours.


Wouldn't surprise me now if VDV airborne troops suddenly descend on Gori. That's how they took Tskhinvalli. First pound the Georgians by armor and artillery and move towards the city - then before taking the city with armor airdrop VDV reinforcements to clean-up the way for the armor.

But then is there anyone even left in Gori? I doubt Georgians left some troops there - they are guaranteed to be captured.

[edit on 11-8-2008 by maloy]

www.debka.com...

No Caucasian Ceasefire until Russia Achieves its Aims

By Monday, Aug. 11, the fourth day of the Caucasian conflict, which first erupted over the breakaway province of South Ossetia, the pro-American Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili sounded hopeless in the face of overwhelming Russian might.

International condemnation of Russian behavior as “unacceptable and disproportionate” did not ease his country’s plight or stop the continuing violence.

Saakashvili’s third commitment to a ceasefire, signed in the presence of the French and Finnish foreign ministers, was brusquely rejected by the Kremlin before the would-be mediators had a chance to present it later that day. The Russian NATO ambassador said his government would not deal with the “war criminal” Georgian president, confirming Saakashvili’s charge that one of Moscow’s objects was to oust him as president.

What can they possibly be planning?

Now that is the question.

They're either making this up as they go along, or we're witnessing modern military strategic genius.

U.S. envoy accuses Russia of planning Georgia invasion long in advance of current conflict

TBILISI (Reuters) - Russia prepared in advance for an invasion of Georgia, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matt Bryza told journalists after flying into Tbilisi on Monday.

"We heard statements saying that the Russian railroad troops that entered Abkhazia a couple of months ago were there for a humanitarian mission," he told journalists at the airport.

"Now we know the truth that these forces were there to rebuild the railway to allow ammunition and other military supplies to aid a Russian invasion."

www.reuters.com...

The war of words is heating up, sadly.

[edit on 8/11/2008 by AceWombat04]

Originally posted by chips
They're either making this up as they go along, or we're witnessing modern military strategic genius.

That's my feeling as well. Either these are actions of a Russian commander in the field, fighting against a soft Georgian resistance and seeing how far he can get into Georgia, or there is some kind of a brilliant master plan. But surely not business as usual in any case.

reply to post by chips


Maybe we'll see that Russia is going to fly in reinforcements to their newly acquired Senaki airbase and then head for Poti... Time will tell I suppose, but I sure hope that they'll reach a ceasefire before anything else happens.