Fresh tension marks anniversary of Georgia-Russia war

Georgia and Russia traded fierce accusations yesterday as they marked the first anniversary of the war over breakaway South Ossetia that shook the Caucasus region and re-ignited Cold War-era tensions.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Russia had suffered a complete diplomatic defeat since the conflict and said his ex-Soviet republic remained on track to join the Nato military alliance and forge closer ties with Europe.

Russia meanwhile insisted it had been right to fight a war with Georgia, accusing Tbilisi of seeking to eliminate the people of South Ossetia, the rebel province at the heart of the conflict.

Mr Saakashvili said the refusal of other countries to follow Russia in recognising South Ossetia and another rebel Georgian region, Abkhazia, as independent states had been a victory for Georgia.

"Thanks to our Western friends, Russia faces a complete diplomatic defeat and practically every single country on earth has remained committed to Georgia's territorial integrity," Mr Saakashvili said in a rainy-night speech in the Georgian city of Gori, a flashpoint in the war.

"The way towards the EU and Nato is more open than ever," he added, seeking to dispel the image that the war had dashed his government's pro-Western hopes. Rival commemorative ceremonies were held in Georgia and in South Ossetia to mark the outbreak of the war a year ago. As bells tolled in the capital Tbilisi, Georgia held a nationwide minute of silence in honour of the victims.

Mr Saakashvili and other officials held their hands to their hearts as the national anthem played in cities across the country.

In Gori, several hundred youths gathered in the form of a red-and-white Georgian flag in the ruins of a medieval fortress and hundreds more people created a human chain.

South Ossetia was to mark the anniversary with three days of ceremonies from yesterday till tomorrow, including a memorial procession and service, a moment of silence and a speech by rebel leader Eduard Kokoity.

Russian President Dmitry Medve-dev, who is lauded as a hero in South Ossetia, is expected to visit the breakaway region today.

The anniversary follows a week of rising tensions around South Ossetia and accusations from both sides of small-scale attacks and provocations.

The US and EU called on all sides to tread carefully. The war began late on August 7 last year when Georgian forces launched an assault on South Ossetia following days of escalating violence.

Russia's counter-attack drove Georgian forces out of the rebel region and pushed them back deep into Georgian territory.

An EU-brokered ceasefire ended the conflict five days later, after several hundred people had been killed and thousands wounded.

Russian forces later mostly withdrew to South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Moscow recognised both regions as independent states but only Nicaragua followed suit.

London-based rights group Amnesty International said Friday that some 30,000 people, mostly ethnic Georgians, were still prevented from returning to their homes by an omnipresent sense of tension and insecurity.

Russia insists it moved into Georgia to defend South Ossetia from a Georgian attack and yesterday Russian prosecutors re-leased a report claiming Tbilisi intended to "eliminate the Ossetian people."

Georgia earlier sought to boost its claim that Russia was to blame for the war by releasing a report detailing its longstanding contention that it launched its assault in defence against a "large-scale Russian invasion.