Eurasia Press & News
Georgia marked today the fifth anniversary of the 2008 war with Russia over Georgia’s separatist territory of South Ossetia, with both sides still blaming each other for the costly conflict.
The government is holding a series of somber events to commemorate the occasion, including a wreath-laying ceremony in Tbilisi at a cemetery for servicemen killed in the fighting and a military parade in the town of Gori, which was bombed and briefly occupied by Russian forces. On the night of Aug. 7-8, 2008, Georgia’s pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili, who claimed to be reacting to the bombing of Georgian villages, launched an offensive to reclaim breakaway region South Ossetia only to see Russian forces sweep into Georgia.
On the eve of the anniversary five years on, Georgian and Russian politicians traded barbs with each other over responsibility for the fighting, despite some hope that ties between the two foes could be improving.
