Russia Vs Georgia..a widening crisis!

SUKHUMI, Georgia - Separatist forces in Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia launched air and artillery strikes to drive Georgian troops from their bridgehead in the region, officials said.

The Abkhazian move was prompted by Georgia's military action to regain control over another breakaway province, South Ossetia, which began Friday, said Sergei Shamba, foreign minister in Abkhazia's separatist government.

He said that Abkhazia had to act because it has a friendship treaty with South Ossetia.

Both regions have run their own affairs without international recognition since splitting from Georgia in the early 1990s and have built up ties with Moscow. Russia has granted its passports to most of their residents.

Shamba said Abkhazian forces intended to push Georgian forces out of the Kodori Gorge. The northern part of the gorge is the only area of Abkhazia that has remained under Georgian government control.

Georgia's Security Council secretary Alexander Lomaia said that Georgian administrative buildings in the Kodori Gorge were bombed, but he blamed the attack on Russia.

In 2006, Georgian forces moved into the upper part of the Kodori Gorge to root out members of a defiant militia. Georgia later established a local administration made up of people who fled the fighting in Abkhazia.

Abkhazian and Russian officials have said they believe Georgia intends to launch an offensive from there to retake Abkhazia and demanded the withdrawal of Georgian troops from the area.

Shamba said the Abkhazian forces had to act because diplomatic efforts to settle the dispute over Georgia's presence in the gorge had failed. "Georgian forces in the Kodori Gorge posed a real threat," Shamba said.

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Just going through SIPRI's (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) arms transfers databse for Georgia and one thing that jumped out is the large amount of ATGW that it claims Georgia has received since 2006.

9M111/AT-4 - 450 missiles received from Bulgaria.
9M114/AT-6 - 758 missiles received from Kazakhstan.

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Norfolk said:

Red Mercury made an excellent point earlier in this thread: the Georgians, by seeking to recover South Ossetia militarily, have played into Russia's hands. The Russians have been waiting for an opportunity like this.

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Neutral Zone said:

Exactly, until 24 hours ago I thought that only Kim Jong-Il would be stupid enough to attack a territory/nation that had an explicit guarantee of defence from a major power. I cannot understand why Saakashvili has done this. He must have been mad if he thought the Americans would support him militarily. Georgia was making good progress under his leadership and now he's jepordised that. It will be nearly impossible for anyone to argue in favour of Georgia joining NATO, I doubt NATO's collective defence applies if a member has provoked a conflict. There was a piece in the London Times today suggesting that Georgia may have thought that as Putin was in Beijing, Russia would be paralysed and unable to react until they had secured South Ossetia, well they thought wrong! It's hard to imagine a single act that has managed to annoy so many people. The Americans must be furious with Saakashvilli for provoking Russia, the British and those in NATO who were in favour of Georgian membership must feel they've been made to look stupid, the Russians will be angry that Georgia tried to humiliate them and although they're saying little in public, the Chinese must be incandescent with anger that this has overshadowed their big day. The best option for Georgia here is to call a ceasefire and withdraw from South Ossetia, if they try to fight this out Russia will crush them, it may take time but that's what will happen.

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