"I have made a decision to end the operation to force the Georgian authorities to peace," Medvedev said on Tuesday afternoon. The decision to end the military operation was taken after a meeting with the leader of breakaway South Ossetia, Edward Kokoity.
The announcement came after five days of fighting that began with an attack by Georgian forces on the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali on August 8. (PHOTOS) Russia has said that around 1,600 people died in the Georgian assault. Some 34,000 people also fled fighting into Russia. Most residents of South Ossetia have Russian citizenship.
During the subsequent Russian military operation to force Georgian troops out of the de facto independent republic and to reinforce its peacekeepers in the region, Moscow sent some 10,000 servicemen and several hundred armored vehicles into South Ossetia. Russian jets also carried out strikes against Georgian military infrastructure. Western and Georgian media reported that Russia had bombed civilian targets in Georgia, including in the city of Gori, but Moscow denied the allegations. (PHOTOS)
"The operation has achieved its goal - security for the peacekeepers and civilians has been restored. The aggressor was punished, suffering huge losses," Medvedev said.
However, he said the Russian military has orders to destroy any "centers of resistance" or other "attempts at aggression" from Georgia.
Georgian Prime Minister Vladimir Gurgenidze said Georgia wanted proof that Russia had concluded its military operation in South Ossetia.
SARKOZY IN MOSCOW
Medvedev's statement coincided with peace mission trips to Moscow by the French and Finnish foreign ministers, as well as French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Sarkozy welcomed Russia's decision to halt its military operation in Georgia, and called on both countries' troops to return to their pre-conflict positions.
Speaking to Medvedev in the Kremlin, Sarkozy, who holds the European Union rotating presidency, said the decision was "good news," and urged for a timetable to be drawn up for each side to return to their positions before the conflict.
He also said, in stark contrast to earlier U.S. and U.K. statements unreservedly condemning Russia's actions in Georgia, that "It is understandable that Russia wants to protect its compatriots' and Russian speakers' interests abroad, and it is also understandable that the international community wants to protect Georgia's sovereignty, security and territorial integrity."
"Russia can use its might to ensure peace. This is the reason why I am in Moscow," the president added.
NO TALKS WITH SAAKASHVILI
Moscow has ruled out future talks with Saakashvili.
"The best thing would be for him to resign," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday. However, he said Moscow has "no plans to force anyone from power."
Lavrov also questioned elements of European-backed proposals for a Georgian-Russian ceasefire deal. "Russia supports the OSCE and EU line that a ceasefire agreement is absolutely essential, but we have questions over several points," he said.
Russia's main objection to the proposals are a stipulation that the peacekeeping format in South Ossetia revert to the setup before August 7.
"We can hardly agree to this, as it implies that Georgian so-called peacekeepers should be in South Ossetia... Georgian peacekeepers cannot be there. They committed crimes, shooting their own [Russian] colleagues, with whom they were serving," said Lavrov.
Russia reported on Tuesday afternoon that Georgian forces were continuing to attack their positions. "Separate Georgian military groups are sporadically attacking the positions of Russian peacekeepers," the spokesperson said. The Russian Defense Ministry also dismissed Georgian claims that Russia was continuing to bomb villages near the South Ossetian border.
BEGINNINGS OF THE WAR
South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway Georgian region, both broke away from Georgia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Both republics fought vicious wars with Tbilisi that eventually ended in the retreat of Georgian troops and the regions gaining de facto independence. Georgia alleged, although the claims were unproven, that the rebels had been armed with Russian-supplied military equipment. When the Rose Revolution street protests swept the pro-Western Saakashvili to power in 2004, the new president immediately vowed to bring the regions back under central government control. Russia had earlier granted citizenship to residents of both republics.
Saakashvili, hailed by the West as an intellectual, U.S. educated lawyer leading the "youngest government in the world," also pledged to bring Georgia into NATO. For this to happen, the country's 'frozen' conflicts would have to be resolved. Indeed, South Ossetia and Abkhazia were the reason why Georgia was refused a NATO Membership Action Plan in April, objections from Germany and France that doing so would unnecessarily antagonize Russia thwarting U.S. enthusiasm for welcoming Tbilisi into the military alliance.
Saakashvili later admitted that he had chosen the date for the attack of South Ossetia in the certainty that the world's attention would be fixed on the Olympic Games.
However, instead of a quick Georgian victory, Russia launched a major counter operation. Western condemnation of Russia's actions was immediate. U.S. President George Bush called Russia's response to Georgia's attack on Tskhinvali "disproportionate," and also said Russia "has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people." (VIDEO)
"Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st Century," he added.
U.S. military transport planes subsequently brought some 2,000 Georgian troops back home from Iraq, where they had made up the third largest contingent after the U.S. and the U.K.
AFTERMATH
Russia sent a second humanitarian aid convoy to Tskhinvali on Tuesday. Russian Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu also arrived in the devastated capital of South Ossetia to coordinate the distribution of aid. Moscow has spoken of a growing humanitarian crisis in the region.
Saakashvili announced to a crowd in Tbilisi on Tuesday afternoon that Georgia would leave the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and urged Ukraine to follow suit.
"We have decided that Georgia will leave the CIS... We urge Ukraine and other countries to also leave the Commonwealth of Independent States, which is dominated by Russia," he said in front of parliament.
The CIS is an alliance of former Soviet republics.
The fighting in South Ossetia has seen relations between Russia and the West fall to yet another post-Cold war low.
On Monday, Russia Prime Minister Vladimir Putin criticized the U.S. stance on the conflict, saying, "The very scale of this cynicism is astonishing - the attempt to turn white into black, black into white and to adeptly portray victims of aggression as aggressors and place the responsibility for the consequences of the aggression on the victims."
"The Cold War has long ended but this mentality has remained firmly in the minds of several U.S. diplomats," Putin said.
Russia has also criticized Western media coverage of the armed conflict, calling it "biased."
