NATO assists Georgia in defense planning

NATO is helping Georgia with the development of its defense capabilities, but is not going to supply weapons to the country, said NATO spokesman James Appathurai on Wednesday.

A team from NATO’s Defense Planning Division has been to Georgia to assess Georgia’s requirements in defense planning, said the spokesman, adding that the trip was long planned in the context of NATO’s Partnership for Peace program with Georgia.

`NATO will not be, as an organization, supplying weapons or arms to Georgia. What NATO can do and what NATO is doing is assisting the Georgians in defining their own defense capabilities,` said Appathurai.

Individual nations might provide weapons to Georgia, he said.

He said NATO will also help Georgia build up capabilities to see what is going on in its air space.

HRW reports human rights violation in Georgia

of the Human Rights Watch and organization Memorial held a news briefing in Moscow where they reported the results of their monitoring to South Ossetia. Human Rights defenders said the reports by Russia did not coincide with what they registered in the conflict region. They said the data provided by Russia about casualties exceeded the real number and it was made deliberately in Moscow.

The international NGOs have also stated that in difference from those villages, which are populated by ethnic Ossetians, the villages populated by ethnic Georgians were intentionally destructed. They said they had witnessed the facts of pillage in Georgian villages.

The representatives of the two international organizations said that Georgian population was still facing serious danger.

EU monitors visit Samegrelo

The mission of the European Union, which consists of four international observers, arrived in Samegrelo Region today to inspect the damage inflicted to the region by Russian aggressors during a month invasion.

The delegation was hosted by the regional governor Zaza Gorozia. The monitors were interested in the details of the negotiations with Russian side. The mission plans to inspect the areas where the occupants and separatists had arranged illegal checkpoints.
The EU monitors are still refused to travel to Abkhazia, as the Kremlin has given the separatists a green light in this regard. Observer Gabriel Son Horny said he wanted to view the area where the 100-men mission of the European Union will have to conduct monitoring.

Regional governor handed over the video and photo material to the mission, which depicts the Russian aggression and the result of the Russian invasion.

CoE official visited Gori

Chairman of Congress of the Council of Europe Yavuz Mildon visited the city of Gori today where the guest was hosted by the regional governor Lado Vardelashvili. Mr. Mildon viewed the districts of the city ruined during the Russian invasion and wanted to travel to the surrounding villages, however, Russian soldiers stationed illegally in the village of Karaleti prevented him from traveling further.

Mr. Mildon says Russian policy towards Georgia was unacceptable. Hi confirmed the facts of ethnic cleansing and said he would introduce them to the CoE bureau.

US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues arrived in Gori

US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues Clint Williamson arrived in the city of Gory today to view the houses and whole districts ruined during the Russia air attacks and military invasion in August. The ambassador viewed the ruins of the houses, damaged streets and then went to the ‘town of tents’ where the homeless residents of the city have been staying since the invasion.

Mr. Williamson said his visit was a demonstration of great attitude of the United States to study in details what happened in Gori. He promised to report the information obtained in Georgia to the American and European partners.

Russians take away construction materials as they leave Samegrelo

Russian occupants are taking away construction materials from Senaki Mechanical Factory to Gali district, which is under the separatists’ control. A week ago they even unroofed the factory and brought serious damage to the building.

The owner of the factory Soso Gadelia plans to file complaint in the international courts in this regards.

EU High Representative comments

EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana has clearly stated `By the 10th of October, that means a month today there will be no Russia troops on Georgian territory outside Abkhazia and South Ossetia`.

`While Russian troops will stay in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the commitment by Medvedev are the following: the OSCE observers will be able to return in South Ossetia and the UN observers will stay inside Abkhazia. The Russian forces and this is very important will withdraw to their position prior to the conflict,` he said.