South Ossetia

Russia plans to establish a long-term presence in Georgia and one of its breakaway republics by adding 18 checkpoints, including at least eight within undisputed Georgian territory outside the pro-Russian enclave of South Ossetia, a ranking Russian military official told reporters Wednesday. The checkpoints will be staffed by hundreds of Russian troops, the official said, and those within Georgia proper will have supplies ferried to them from breakaway South Ossetia. If implemented, the plan would in effect put under Russian control the border between Georgia and the South Ossetia region, which is seeking independence, as well as a small chunk of Georgia proper.

The tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru, with its phosphate mines nearly depleted and without any other significant natural resources, has only one thing left to sell: its international reputation. Enter Russia, which is more than happy to buy. That's how Nauru this week became the fourth country to establish formal relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The other three countries are Russia, Venezuela and Nicaragua. Unfortunately for the Kremlin, that's all it has to show after 15 months lobbying its allies to recognize the two breakaway republics, which are trying to assert their independence from Georgia with Russia's backing.

Residents of South Ossetia trooped to the polls Sunday in the first election since Russia and Georgia fought a brief and bitter war over the breakaway republic's fate. Residents in the rebel territory, which was purged of Georgian troops by Russian intervention and recognized as an independent state by Moscow, cast votes for a 34-seat parliament. Georgia's central government dismissed the balloting as illegal.

Georgia's artillery barrage against the breakaway republic of South Ossetia sparked last year's brief but bloody war with Russia, according to a highly anticipated investigation released today. But the independent report, commissioned by the European Union, also levels criticism at Russia, blaming Moscow for provoking the conflict and escalating the fighting beyond "the reasonable limits of defense." Even before the report was released, both governments were rushing to cherry pick and champion the criticisms of the other side -- and griping over depictions of their own transgressions.

Only the rumble of distant artillery fire punctured the silence Sunday here in the capital of Georgia's rebel South Ossetia region, but residents wondered how long the relative calm would last. The town remained on edge, its shocked residents venturing out from cellars for the first time after three days of ferocious fighting to find bodies uncollected and streets strewn with rubble and broken glass from wrecked buildings.

Georgia's South Ossetia region overwhelmingly endorsed a split with the government in Tbilisi, with 99% of about 50,000 voters voting "yes" in a referendum, election officials reported. Before the vote, the hawkish Georgian defense minister was removed in the strongest sign yet that Tbilisi wants to ease a bitter standoff with the separatists and their Russian backers.

A car exploded Friday, killing seven soldiers outside Russia's military headquarters in South Ossetia, and Russian authorities said it was a terrorist bombing meant to wreck the tense cease-fire that ended the war with Georgia. Georgia's Interior Ministry blamed Russia, accusing it of arranging the blast to provide a pretext for delaying next week's scheduled withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgian territory around South Ossetia and another Kremlin-backed separatist region, Abkhazia.

Heavy fighting erupted in Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia overnight, as national troops backed by warplanes bombed the republic's capital and local officials reported mounting civilian casualties. The clashes in the remote region of the Caucasus, which raged unabated into this morning, broke out just hours after the two sides had declared a cease-fire. The attacks are the most serious to date in a series of escalating confrontations between U.S.

Russian flags waved and Russian music was performed at a patriotic concert Thursday in this war-torn city, the capital of Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia, as Moscow and its loyalists tightened their grip on territory that was the focus of clashes this month. In front of a badly damaged government building, a Russian orchestra performed pieces by Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich as 1,000 or so residents held up candles and the flags of Russia and South Ossetia, the catalyst in this month's conflict between Russia and Georgia.

Russia dismissed signs of a Georgian military retreat and rejected calls for a cease-fire Sunday, pursuing a raging conflict with the former Soviet republic. The international community scrambled to bring an end to the expanding conflict, which broke out late last week after Georgian troops apparently attempted to retake the pro-Russian breakaway republic of South Ossetia in a battle that left hundreds dead and Georgia, a strategic partner of the West, vulnerable.

In a showy display of cash-slicked camaraderie and like-minded politics, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recognized the independence of the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia today during a state visit to Russia. Venezuela becomes the third country, after Russia and Nicaragua, to acknowledge the national aspirations of the two small, rebel regions located inside Georgia's internationally recognized borders. Impoverished South Ossetia was at the heart of last summer's war between Russia and Georgia, and Moscow has been accused of carrying out a de facto annexation of the two republics.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin vowed to defend South Ossetia's independence as he presided over the inauguration of the first pipeline to carry Russian natural gas directly to the breakaway Georgian republic, bypassing Georgia proper. During a meeting in Moscow between Putin and South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity, Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller called his deputy in the South Ossetian capital and told him to open the valve. The meeting took place on the first anniversary of Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and a second breakaway republic, Abkhazia, after a brief war last year between Russia and Georgia.

NATO and Russia on Saturday resumed formal cooperation on broad security threats but failed to bridge differences over Georgia in their first high-level talks since last year's war in the Caucasus region. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the two sides had recognized that it was time to press joint efforts against Afghan insurgents and drug trafficking, Somali piracy, terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

Residents of South Ossetia trooped to the polls Sunday in the first election since Russia and Georgia fought a brief and bitter war over the breakaway republic's fate. Residents in the rebel territory, which was purged of Georgian troops by Russian intervention and recognized as an independent state by Moscow, cast votes for a 34-seat parliament. Georgia's central government dismissed the balloting as illegal.

Officials in Moscow lashed out bitterly at the West on Thursday, excoriating NATO for expelling two Russians suspected of spying and for pushing ahead with planned military exercises in Georgia. In sharp contrast to the Obama administration's call for a "reset" of U.S.-Russian relations and the recent thaw in Russian-NATO ties, it was a day of acrimony and veiled threats as Russian officials resorted to some of their toughest talk in weeks.

A team of international monitors is ending its 16-year mission in Georgia after Russia refused to allow an extension of the assignment in a dispute over two breakaway Georgian provinces. The mission by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe expires Dec. 31, and OSCE chair Finland called a meeting to seek a three-month extension. But talks collapsed when Russia, a member of the group, demanded that the body join Moscow in recognizing the statehood of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Shots were fired Sunday as a motorcade carrying the presidents of Georgia and Poland approached a checkpoint near the breakaway province of South Ossetia, Georgian officials said. No one was hurt, and details of the incident were disputed even among Georgian officials. Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said the shots were fired as the motorcade approached a Russian military checkpoint near the town of Akhalgori in South Ossetia.

A visit to this war-strafed city Sunday turned up no proof of Russian claims that more than 2,000 people died here. Nor were there any ready signs of what Prime Minister Vladimir Putin referred to as "genocide." The downtown of Tskhinvali, the capital of Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia, sustained heavy damage in a five-day barrage of rockets and missiles as Russian troops and their local allies battled Georgian forces, and dozens of deaths have been documented. There is still no running water in the city, and residents are tremulous and shellshocked.

Shots were fired Sunday as a motorcade carrying the presidents of Georgia and Poland approached a checkpoint near the breakaway province of South Ossetia, Georgian officials said. No one was hurt, and details of the incident were disputed even among Georgian officials. Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said the shots were fired as the motorcade approached a Russian military checkpoint near the town of Akhalgori in South Ossetia.

Mediators succeeded Wednesday in getting direct talks going between Russia and Georgia, pressing the two neighbors to resolve security and refugee issues from their August war. Johan Verbeke, special U.N. envoy for Georgia, said the sides had agreed on methods to demarcate borders and had begun work on security issues and the return of refugees. "I'd call this a quantum leap," Verbeke said. "All of the delegations did speak, all of the delegations listened."