Moves to resolve conflict in South Ossetia as Russia and Georgia fight on

Last Modified: 11 Aug 2008
By: Carl Dinnen, Jonathan Rugman

As fighting continued between Russia and Georgia today, there were diplomatic moves to resolve the conflict over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Both sides accused one another of attacks, as Georgia backed an EU plan for a ceasefire and monitoring by Europe's largest security organisation, the OSCE.

Russia is likely to reject a ceasefire and the Georgian president accused Moscow of trying to overthrow his government.

Georgian troops started moving into Tskinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, on Thursday, responding, Georgia says, to attacks from Russian-backed separatists.

By Friday, Russian troops themselves responded. They reached Tskinvali prompting the Georgian president to announce that the two countries were at war.

At the weekend, Russia was accused of entering Georgia itself, with the city of Gori being hit the hardest.

Yesterday, after heavy fighting, Georgia pulled its troops from Tskinvali, and today Russia moved forces into the breakaway region of Abkhazia.

The total number of Russian troops there is now 9000 with 350 armoured vehicles.

The Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, has criticised the US for allegedly transporting Georgian troops from Iraq to be deployed at home in the conflict over South Ossetia, as Sarah Smith reports.