Georgian troops scrambled to defend their capital last night as Russia moved troops farther into its southern neighbour. It marked a dangerous new phase as Moscow showed no sign of easing the pressure on Georgia after rejecting a peace deal over South Ossetia. Last night Georgian troops were battling two fronts while Russian troops occupied the city of Gori and Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president, moved forces to fortify positions near Tbilisi, said the secretary of Georgia's security council, Alexander Lomaia. The new forays into Georgia appeared to show how determined Russia was to subdue the small, US-backed country, which has been trying to win Nato membership. The latest developments indicate that Georgian forces are being moved from the conflict zone in South Ossetia and are fortifying positions near Tbilisi to defend the capital. "The Georgian army is retreating to defend the capital. The government is urgently seeking international intervention to prevent the fall of Georgia and the further loss of life," said a statement from the Georgian government. Reports also suggest Russian troops have invaded Georgia from the separatist province of Abkhazia while most Georgian forces are locked up in fighting around South Ossetia. Reports show Russian armoured personnel carriers rolled into the base in Senaki, a town in western Georgia. Russian forces have also occupied the city of Gori, birthplace of Josef Stalin, Georgian officials claimed. Just hours before forces occupied Gori, Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the Russian deputy chief of general staff, said Russia was not planning any offensive into Georgia beyond the two breakaway regions. Analysts said the confusion from reports about the conflict is part of a propaganda campaign by both sides to use the media to win the support of the international community. Details about the conflict on the ground in South Ossetia, a pro-Russian province that threw off Georgian rule in the 1990s, were confused as both sides traded verbal blows with numerous claims and counter-claims about military victories that could not be independently verified.
Mr Saakashvili said Russia was intent on "overthrowing the democratically elected government of Georgia and occupying the country" and claimed Moscow's aim was to take control of energy routes in the region, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline that transports oil from the Caspian Sea to the West. Mr Saakashvili even claimed yesterday that Russian forces controlled the majority of Georgian territory, after reports showed Georgia's western city of Zugdidi had fallen to Russia. Russian planes continued to bomb the Black Sea port city of Poti, home to an oil refinery, after attacking radar for Tbilisi airport early yesterday morning, Georgian officials said. Russia troops entered Senaki from Abkhazia and seized a military base there, opening a new front. About 30 armoured personnel carriers and more than 20 lorries with Russian soldiers entered the town and took control of the base, said Batu Kutelia, the Georgian deputy defence minister. Russia responded by saying it had sent peacekeepers to the area on a "preventive mission", the Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti said. Mr Saakashvili, who harbours hopes of joining Nato, has aligned his country with western democracies and drawn parallels between Russia's actions and past Soviet attacks. However, Russian leaders have blamed Mr Saakashvili for starting the conflict by launching an intense attack last week on the breakaway region of South Ossetia, which Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, has called "genocide". Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, lambasted US support for Georgia and likened Mr Saakashvili to Saddam Hussein, Iraq's fallen leader. Moscow is conducting a "fierce war of propaganda", said Oleg Panfilov, a Russian media activist. "I do not want to watch Russian television. They are not showing coverage of the situation, but a propaganda campaign," he said. Others, however, accuse Mr Saakashvili of doing the same thing by playing on the biases of the western media to promote his country as a helpless victim. "The prevailing image of Russia in the western media is that of an aggressive empire," said Alexei Makarkin, an analyst at the Centre for Political Technologies in Moscow. Helping Georgia get out its message are a group of western public relations consultants that have bombarded reporters with a stream of statements, written in perfect English, about the effects of Russian bombing. Meanwhile, diplomatic talks faltered yesterday after the Kremlin rejected a European Union brokered peace deal, claiming Georgia continued to use military force in South Ossetia. Last night, western diplomats were trying to hammer out a UN Security Council resolution urging "an immediate ceasefire" between Georgia and Russia, with the United States pressing for a tough stand towards Moscow. The proposed text, which was due to be discussed at a security council meeting late last night, is based on a three-point peace plan that Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, is trying to sell to Tbilisi and Moscow. The French blueprint calls for "an immediate cessation of hostilities; full respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia" and "the re-establishment of the situation that existed before". A western diplomat said the US side wanted tougher language condemning what Washington sees as Moscow's "disproportionate" response to the Georgian offensive. The Europeans were much more interested in crafting a text that would enjoy broad support, particularly from Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the council, he said. Other efforts are also continuing with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, due to fly to Georgia and Russia tomorrow to try to negotiate an agreement. The other hope of a solution comes after Moscow agreed to talks with Alexander Stubb, the Finnish foreign minister who is the chairman of the Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe. A Kremlin statement said yesterday that Mr Medvedev was in favour of the return of an OSCE mission to the region. Mr Saakashvili also said he would welcome a mixed peacekeeping force under OSCE monitoring. EU foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting tomorrow and hear a report from Mr Kouchner. Nato is also set to hold an extraordinary council meeting today at Moscow's request to discuss the Georgia crisis. The news of the ambassador-level meeting came after a request from Dmitry Rogozin, the Russian ambassador to Nato. "A war is under way and our colleagues need to listen before consulting with their capitals and making decisions. They need to listen to each party," Mr Rogozin said. bslabbert@thenational.ae * With additional reporting by Reuters, the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse