21 August: As Western countries accuse Russia of failing to honour the ceasefire plan, Russia circulates its own UN Security Council resolution. Among other things, this reiterates Moscow’s view that the peace plan allows it to implement ‘additional security measures’ before leaving Georgia.
24 August: US Navy destroyer McFaul arrives in the Georgian port of Batumi to distribute humanitarian aid.
26 August: Russia formally recognises the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Bush condemns the move as ‘irresponsible’ and calls on Moscow to adhere to the six-point agreement and to live up to its international commitments.
27 August: NATO calls on Russia to reverse its decision, which ‘violates the many UN Security Council resolutions it has endorsed regarding Georgia’s territorial integrity.’ It says Russia’s actions ‘have called into question its commitment to peace and security in the Caucasus’.
The US Coast Guard cutter Dallas delivers aid to the port of Batumi, avoiding the Russian-occupied port of Poti which was previously said to be its destination. In an interview with the BBC, Medvedev accuses the US of using the guise of humanitarian aid to take weapons into Georgia.
The G7 group of leading industrial nations issues a statement criticising Russia’s recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and deploring its ‘excessive use of military force in Georgia and its continued occupation of parts of Georgia’.
28 August: Medvedev attends a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe, seeking support for Russia’s position. Instead, China and four central Asian states – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – call for respect for the territorial integrity of states and criticise the use of force to redraw borders.
In Moscow, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gives an interview to CNN, in which he suggests that the United States may have provoked the war in Georgia to ‘create a competitive advantage for one of the candidates for the US presidency’.
29 August: Russia hits back at the G7 statement of 27 August, calling it biased. The deputy speaker of the South Ossetian parliament, Tarzan Kokoity, suggests the region could be absorbed into Russia soon. President Eduard Kokoity had previously welcomed Russian bases on South Ossetian soil. A Russian official tells the Interfax news agency that Moscow also plans to establish two bases in Abkhazia.
Georgia announces that it will recall all diplomatic staff from its embassy in Moscow and cut diplomatic ties with Russia to a bare minimum.
30 August: Medvedev promises military aid to South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
31 August: Medvedev declares Russia’s decision to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia is ‘irreversible’.
1 September: An emergency summit of 27 EU leaders describes Russia’s recognition of South Ossetian and Abkhazian independence as ’unacceptable’ and condemns Russia for falling to fully implement the French-brokered peace plan.
The EU decides against imposing sanctions on Russia or sending armed EU peacekeepers to Georgia. Instead, it shelves forthcoming negotiations on a new strategic partnership with Moscow and agrees to send military ceasefire monitors to Georgia.
3 September: The US announces a $1 billion aid package to help Georgia rebuild. The move comes as US Vice President Dick Cheney arrives in Tbilisi to pledge support for Saakashvili. Cheney vows that Georgia will join NATO.
Nicaragua becomes the first country besides Russia to recognise South Ossetian and Abkhazian independence.
5 September: The USS Mount Whitney arrives with humanitarian aid in Poti, where Russian ships remain stationed. Russia questions whether the flagship of the US Navy’s Mediterranean fleet is ideally suited to carrying humanitarian aid, but says it will not respond militarily to the increased presence of US naval forces in the Black Sea.
At a meeting in Moscow, the leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) – which comprises Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – release a statement backing Russia’s actions in South Ossetia. Four of these countries had been less supportive of Russia at the SCO summit.
In Avignon, France, EU foreign ministers meet to discuss sending international observers to monitor the ceasefire in Georgia.
Russia’s emergencies ministry calculates that nearly 31,000 refugees have returned to South Ossetia.
6 September: In Italy, Cheney makes the strongest US criticism yet of Russia, calling its recent actions ‘an affront to civilised standards’ and ’completely unacceptable’.
8 September: Russia agrees to withdraw its troops from Georgian territory surrounding South Ossetia and Abkhazia, following talks in Moscow with Sarkozy, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and European Commission head José Manuel Barroso. Russia agrees that checkpoints around Poti and Senaki will be closed within a week. The rest of the pull-out will happen once 200 European monitors are deployed by 1 October. Russia’s withdrawal is dependent on Georgia signing a ’non-aggression pact’. An international conference on the crisis is scheduled for 15 October in Geneva.
Georgia releases casualty figures indicating that 295 Georgians were killed during the crisis – 186 soldiers and 109 civilians.
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