Georgia and South Ossetia Update 14a

As of 0800 Eastern Time / 1600 Tbilisi Time:

Sergey reports the following from Russian News Sites:

Georgian artilery stops Russian humanitarian help on route to Tkshinvali.http://lenta.ru/news/2008/08/11/aid2/

Georgian Su-25 attacked 58 Russian Army, it is reported that there were wounded.
http://www.rbc.ru/rbcfreenews/20080811152827.shtml

In addition Georgian sources are confirming the Presidential Palace area was not attacked in Georgia, but Russian Air Force Planes were operating in the area, forcing the press conference earlier today to be interrupted.

Thank You also Sergey for keeping the information coming to us.

From CNN:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of the European Union, will visit the capitals of both Russia and Georgia Tuesday in his diplomatic efforts to end the fighting, according to Saakashvili.

Sarkozy's office earlier said he would travel to Moscow to meet with Russian President Dimitri Medvedev, but it has not confirmed a stop in Tbilisi.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb were to make their way to Moscow on Monday evening after spending Sunday and Monday in Tbilisi meeting with Georgian officials.

Stubb said they had a proposal which included a "forceful way forward" to a cease-fire and withdrawal plan. Watch more on the victims of the fighting »

"I agreed with every point of it," Saakashvili said. "They are going now back to Moscow trying to convince the Russians to take the offer."

A Georgian National Security Council official said the document signed by Saakashvili called for an unconditional cease-fire, a non-use of force agreement, a withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgian territory, including the South Ossetia region, and provisions for international peacekeeping and mediation.

Sources close to the delegation said the French and Finnish ministers, along with their Georgian counterpart, would visit Gori Monday afternoon to see first-hand damage caused by Russian airstrikes.

Russian Defense Ministry Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn said some Georgian troops remained in South Ossetia but they were being driven out.

"At the moment, our troops are pushing out, capturing and disarming groups of Georgian law enforcement agencies which have been surrounded in the capital of South Ossetia," Nogovitsyn said.

From BBC:

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, heading a delegation to the Georgian capital, told the BBC that President Mikhail Saakashvili signed a document outlining EU proposals for a ceasefire, controlled withdrawals of troops on both sides and eventual political talks.

The delegation would now go to Moscow, Mr Kouchner said, to convince President Dmitry Medvedev to back the plan.

But reports from Moscow suggested the Kremlin had quickly rejected the draft plan, saying Georgia was continuing to use military force.

The Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, also spoke out, criticising the US for transporting Georgian troops from Iraq to redeploy to the conflict at home.

Earlier, Mr Medvedev accused Georgia of "genocide" in South Ossetia but said Russian troops were now in control of Tskhinvali and Moscow's military push was "largely complete".

The head of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, accompanying Mr Kouchner, said he could not predict when the conflict would end, saying only that he was "optimistic" a cessation of violence could begin "in the next few days".

God Bless America

Bryan

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/11/georgia.russia/index.html

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