Russian forces battle Georgians in escalating conflict in South Ossetia Region
Russian forces are locked in fierce clashes with Georgia inside its breakaway South Ossetia region, reports say, amid fears of all-out war. Moscow sent armoured units across the border after Georgia moved against Russian-backed separatists. Russia says 12 of its soldiers are dead, and separatists estimate that 1,400 civilians have died. Georgian President Mr Saakashvili said Georgia had shot down several Russian planes and accused Moscow of bombing Georgian air bases and towns, resulting in the death of 30 military personnel and civilians. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had received reports that villages in South Ossetia were being ethnically cleansed.Georgia's president said his country was withdrawing half its contingent of 2,000 troops from Iraq to help deal with the crisis.
Note EU-Digest: Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili uses a EU flag as a backdrop during his TV appearances. The EU should remind Mr. Saakashvili that Georgia is not a member of the EU and that using the EU flag as a backdrop for his TV appearances is creating the false impression that the EU supports Georgia's activities in the South Ossetia Region.
1 comment:
The blue and 12 gold star flag was the flag of the Council of Europe decades before the EC adopted it in the 1980s though with the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty the flag has still not been formally adopted. Georgia is entitled to use it having joined the Council of Europe in 1999. So too is Russia for that matter.
That said the prominence given to the flag does seem like some kind of EU sympathy baiting.
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