Russian Armed Forces Moved into Satchkhere

On August 19, 2008 Russian several armored vehicles of the Russian armed forces moved into Satchkhere, and attempted to enter the military base located there. They were turned back by Georgian police, which blocked the road with the patrol cars. Before leaving the territory Russian soldiers threatened that they would return with more vehicles and troops in order to destroy the military base. According to our information, reinforced Russian troops and military technique is currently moving towards the Satchkhere military base, which is located beyond the conflict zones, in the Western part of Georgia.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia would like to underline that in accordance with the point 4 of the cease-fire agreement signed by President Saakashvili on August 15, Georgian armed forces returned to their permanent bases of deployment, including the Satchkhere military base. Therefore, an attempt of the Russian armed forces to assault the Sathckhere base is another provocation undertaken by the Russian side.

This provocation has a clear aim of stirring the spiral of further violence and bloodshed between Russia and Georgia. Georgia is currently undertaking all the obligations it undertook by signing the cease-fire accord. Unfortunately we can not say the same about the Russian side, which has not withdrawn its armed forces from the territory of Georgia; moreover, they are continuing entering various cities, destroying military and civilian infrastructure, looting and robbing peaceful population, dropping fire bombs on the forrests, blowing up bridges, establishing new illegal checkpoints on the highways, et cetera.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia strongly calls upon the Russian Federation to immediately start implementing the principles set forth in the cease-fire accord and withdraw all its armed forces to the places of their deployment before the outbreak of the hostilities. More precisely, we call upon the Russian Federation government to immediately recall back their troops which are currently heading towards Satchkhere. We also call upon the international community to take urgent measures to stop continuous Russian provocations, and make sure that Russian armed forces leave the territory of Georgia.