SKP pledges to bring killers of Russian peacekeepers, S Ossetians to

MOSCOW, August 8 (Itar-Tass) -- The Investigation Committee under the
Russian Prosecutor General's Office (SKP) said it would do its best to
bring the killers of Russian peacekeepers and peaceful residents of South
Ossetian to justice.
"The Investigation Committee under the Russian Prosecutor General's
Office intends to complete the investigation of the criminal case and will
do everything it can to ensure that those responsible for the death of
Russian military servicemen and peaceful citizens get due penalty," SKP
spokesman Vladimir Markin told Itar-Tass.
As a result of the Georgian invasion of South Ossetia a year ago, 655
dwelling houses were completed destroyed and burned down, 2,139
residential buildings and premises where mainly South Ossetian lived were
partly damaged. A total of 67 Russian peacekeepers were killed, and 5,315
people are missing.
Russian investigators have opened a criminal case on charges of
genocide and mass killings. "The deadline for the investigation into the
crimes committed by Georgian military servicemen has been extended till
February 8, 2010," SKP said.
At the same time, it said investigators have completed gathering and
analysing proof of crimes committed by Georgian army servicemen in South
Ossetia. The criminal case consists of 380 volumes.
Markin said, "The evidence collected during the investigation, the
scale of the armed aggression, deliberate and thorough military, political
and propaganda preparations by the Georgian side give us every reason to
say that the invasion of South Ossetia to destroy the Ossetian population
was planned and organised by the top political and military leadership of
Georgia."
According to SKP, about 17,000 Georgian army servicemen, including up
to 2,000 reservists, were involved in the attack. They were armed with
about 100 tanks, 70 armoured vehicles, 110 artillery units and mortars, 30
multiple launchers, 210 air-defence systems, and nine Su-25 combat planes.
Georgia's armed units used all kinds of weapons, including Grad
multiple launchers, to attack medical institutions in Tskhinval, the
basements of dwelling houses and churches, where peaceful and unarmed
people were hiding, and conducted sniper fire at columns of refuges who
tried to leave the combat zone, SKP said.
"We have proof of premeditated murders and abductions of peaceful
citizens, marauding, and use of unjustified violence against prisoners of
war and illegally detained civilians," Markin said.
He stressed that the attacking forces used heavy offensive weapons of
indiscriminate effect as well as dispenser munitions and 500-kilogram
aerial bombs banned by international conventions.

.Russia did not seek excuse for operation to coerce Georgia to peace
-Churkin.

UNITED NATIONS, August 8 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia did not seek an excuse
for the peace enforcement operation in South Ossetia in August 2008,
Russian Permanent Representative to the U.N. Vitaly Churkin said.
It had no other choice but respond to the massive use of force by
Georgia, he added, thus replying to U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden's
recent statement in Tbilisi that Russia had used an excuse to invade
Georgia.
"We responded to the massive use of armed force, to multiple rocker
grenade launcher fire at the sleeping peaceful city of Tskhinval, to the
fact that South Ossetian villages were crushed by Georgian tanks that
rolled into Tskhinval conducting targeted fire at hospitals, churches,
synagogues, and schools, destroying the city," the diplomat told Itar-Tass
on Friday.
"We saw they fire at refugees who tried to hide in North Ossetia. This
can hardly be called an excuse. It more likely to be the reason in a
situation where we simply had no other choice but respond to this big
provocation," Churkin said.
If Russia had needed an excuse, it could have used the recognition of
Kosovo's independence by the United States and some other countries. "Our
historical and legal analysis shows that Abkhazia and South Ossetia had
much more reasons than Kosovo to claim independence," he said.
Churkin stressed that even at the height of the conflict when efforts
were taken to resolve it by political methods, Russia did not rule out a
diplomatic solution. When the president of France was in Moscow on August
12, 2008, "the first version of the peace plan approved by Dmitry Medvedev
and Nicolas Sarkozy contained a provision on international discussions on
the political status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia : Even then Russia was
ready to go through the political process and allow Georgia to play a role
in determining the future political status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,"
he said.
"I personally believe that [Georgian President] Mikhail Saakashvili
made a gross diplomatic mistake by rejecting this provision. It was
removed from the final version of the Medvedev-Sarkozy agreement. Having
invaded South Ossetia, he made a gross military and political mistake.
Having rejected the diplomatic lifebuoy offered to him by the
Medvedev-Sarkozy agreement. He made a gross diplomatic mistake," Churkin
said.
-0-zak/