On August 8, 2008, the five-day Russian-Georgian war for South Ossetia began. It was preceded by clashes in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict in the early 1990s. The parties accused each other of violating the ceasefire of 1992. According to the results of an international investigation initiated by the European Union, on August 8, Georgian military forces subjected the city of Tskhinval to massive shelling. On the same day, Russia which had previously supported the self-proclaimed republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia entered the conflict. In Moscow, the entry into the war was referred to as a “peace enforcement operation”. According to some testimonies, Russian troops entered South Ossetia on August 7, that is, before the shelling of Tskhinvali. The fighting lasted five days and ended on August 12 with the defeat of the Georgian army. Two weeks later, Russia officially recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. The first war in the 21st century in Europe killed 850 people on both sides, thousands were injured and wounded, tens of thousands of ethnic Georgians were expelled from South Ossetia, Georgian villages were destroyed.
August war 2008
Most read

"Aliyev speaks of a "corridor" and calls Armenian society "sick" after the US meeting" - opinion from Yerevan
"Turkey is trying to limit Armenia’s transit options", say analysts in Yerevan
Plane crash in Aktau: Russia-Azerbaijan relations and the compensation dispute
Latest news in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, summary. Live
Thomas de Waal: Peace between Yerevan and Baku is possible, but not guaranteed

Kremlin’s Abkhazia handler donated his Sukhum house to the orchestra of folk instruments
Turkey’s special envoy for normalisation with Armenia visits Yerevan: no breakthroughs
Two Russian activists sentenced to 8.5 years in Georgia on drug possession charges
Ukrainian citizens arrested in Georgia for transporting explosives
Kremlin’s soft power plan for Azerbaijan: “Hundreds of millions of dollars wasted”
