Moscow and Tbilisi read the EU's report on conflict in the Caucasus in their own way

Russia welcomes the conclusion of the international commission for investigating the conflict in Georgia that Tbilisi unleashed the war last August in South Ossetia, Natalia Timakova, press secretary of Russian President, said today. Georgia is happy that the report states that the war in South Ossetia began not on August 7, but earlier, said Timur Yakobashvili, State Minister of Georgia on Reintegration.

Let us remind you that today Vladimir Chizhov, Russia's permanent representative at the European Union (EU), said, after receiving the official text of the international independent commission on investigation of the conflict in Southern Caucasus, that the international investigation has recognized Georgia responsible for the war in the Caucasus in August 2008. The report affirms that at night of August 8, 2008, Georgia attacked Tskhinvali with the use of heavy artillery, and, accordingly, launched the war as a whole. However, this attack was a result of lengthy provocations in the conflict zone. Russia is also is responsible for numerous violations of the international law, the authors of the report assert.

Russian diplomats are also happy with the conclusion, they managed to find in the report, of the German professor Luchterhandt, who took part in the work of the "Tagliavini Commission" as an independent expert. According to his conclusion, " Russia can justify its warfare against Georgia by the right to self-defence (Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations), and the right to collective self-defence together with South Ossetia against an armed attack of Georgia."

Georgia gave its own interpretation of the report of the independent international commission on investigation of the circumstances of the conflict in the Caucasus in 2008, and is also as a whole happy with its interpretation.

"The conclusion, which we haven't yet completely studied, marks that the war in Tskhinvali region began not on August 7, but earlier. Nowhere in this conclusion it is said that Georgia started the war," Minister Yakobashvili has stated today at a briefing. He said that the Georgian party disagreed with certain conclusions of the mission, in particular, that there was no mass invasion of Russian troops into Georgia. "We also don't agree that the Georgian party had applied excessive force in the beginning of confrontation," he has added.

Besides, the diplomat has emphasized that the data in the report allow refuting the statements of the Russian party that Georgia conducted ethnic cleanings against Ossetians in South Ossetia.

The "Echo Moskvy" Radio reports that the commission has found attributes of ethnic cleanings of the Georgian population.