Georgian-South Ossetian War
The Georgian-South Ossetian War marks an armed conflict between Georgia and its breakaway province of South Ossetia , which is supported by Russia .
Background and causes
In the course of the collapse of the Soviet Union since 1989 , more and more nationalities belonging to it, including Georgia, demanded independence. The growing nationalism in Georgia worried the country's ethnic minorities, which led them to demand independence (albeit from Georgia).
course
On November 10, 1989, South Ossetia declared itself independent for the first time. This decision was overturned on November 16 by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the SSR of Georgia. The result was the first South Ossetia conflict. Georgian nationalist militias besieged Tskhinvali , the capital of South Ossetia. NKVD troops finally managed to separate the warring parties by January 1990. On September 20, 1990, South Ossetia declared independence again. As a result, Georgian paramilitaries marched into South Ossetia again, whose advance was only stopped by Soviet troops . After this intervention, Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia broke off all relations with the Soviet Union . On April 25, 1992, Russia (as the successor to the USSR) withdrew its troops, which threw the unstable peace out of balance and led to clashes between Ossetians and Geogians.
aftermath
Balance sheet and number of victims
The second Russian intervention and the fighting that preceded it claimed an estimated 4,000 victims. About 100,000 Ossetians fled to Russia and about 20,000 Georgians from South Ossetia fled to Georgia.
Peace process
On June 24, 1992, Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Eduard Shevardnadze signed an agreement to form a 1500-strong peacekeeping force. About a year later, both countries regulated the withdrawal of all Russian troops from Georgia by 1995 in a new treaty. In 2004, Mikheil Saakashvili presented a peace plan to the UN based on the model of the reintegration of Ajaria into Georgia.