Georgia leaders to face 'retribution'

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned yesterday that Georgia'a leadership would face "retribution" over the war in South Ossetia a year ago and criticised US backing of the ex-Soviet state.

"I am certain that, in time, just and severe punishment, severe retribution, will come to those people who issued the criminal orders" to attack South Ossetia, he said, referring to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

He also warned in remarks aired on television that a new conflict in the volatile Georgian rebel region could not be ruled out due to Tbilisi's actions and implicitly accused the United States of ratcheting up tensions.

"It is well known who is armed and who, unfortunately, is continuing to arm the Tbilisi regime," he said in a clear reference to Washington, which provided military training and equipment to Georgia before last year's war.

Russia's powerful Prime Minister Vladimir Putin echoed the warning, saying "with the current Georgian leadership nothing can be excluded."

He however stressed that the beefed up Russian military presence would make a Georgian offensive "much more complicated."

In a letter posted on the Kremlin's website, Medvedev said Georgia's actions, including "unceasing threats to use force to re-establish its 'territorial integrity'," remained a matter of "serious concern".

The Russian leaders' remarks came as South Ossetia marked the first anniversary of the brief war last August.

Medvedev issued his warning as he visited a military base in southern Russia near the border with Georgia where he decorated troops.

He said Georgia had tried to "eliminate, or at least exile the people of South Ossetia from their birthplace," adding: "You prevented that."

The military base in Vladikavkaz is home to the 58th army, which led Russia's counter-attack that pushed Georgian forces out of the rebel region and back deep into Georgian territory following their assault on South Ossetia.

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

Moscow has since recognised South Ossetia and another Georgian breakaway region, Abkhazia, as independent states - to almost universal condemnation in the international community.