Georgian troops redeploy on a road close to the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali as the fighting between Georgia's and Russia and North Ossetian troops there escalates. Photo by BGNES
Tactical groups of the Russian troops have driven out the Georgian army from the capital of South Ossetia Tskhinvali, and are now fighting them to recapture the whole zone of which the Russian peacekeeping battalion was placed in charge according to the 1992 Dragomys Treaty.
The news was reported by ITAR-TASS, which cited the commander-in-chief of Russia's land forces General Vladimir Boldirev.
During a meeting in Moscow to discuss humanitarian aid for South Ossetia, Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev said the province was facing a humanitarian crisis, and called for the punishment of those responsible for the current situation according to international law.
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced earlier that over 1500 persons have been killed in the armed conflict in South Ossetia so far, and that the situation was deteriorating.
Georgia's Deputy Minister of Defense Batu Kutelia said the Georgian anti-aircraft artillery had brought down a total of seven Russian planes, which violated the country's airspace and conducted aerial bombardments.
Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations has sent two convoys with humanitarian aid to South Ossetia. More than half of the province's 70 000 inhabitants hold Russian citizenship.
The 1990-1992 civil war in South Ossetia was ended with the Dagomys Treaty of 1992 providing for collective peacekeeping forces consisting of three battalions - one Russian, one Georgian and one North-Ossetian), each having 500 troops, which are now involved in the fighting.