Timeline of conflict

**Shuriff** · 17 Aug 08,, 14:11

Good day, everyone!
Below is a russian view on the timeline of conlict in Georgia. I have compiled it from various sources, namely lenta.ru news portal, milkavkaz.net board, vim152.livejournal.com, tarlith-history.livejournal.com and sirjones.livejournal.com blogs.
I've tried to be as unbiased as I can, but its up to members of this community to judge if I've been succesful in that.
I've also tried to concentrate on evens and claims, which seemed most important to me. More info can be found in original sources, listed above.
In most cases, its impossible to state presice time, when certain event has happend, so in most cases I've rounded specified time.

So far I've finished to describe events prior to war and events of first day of the conflict. I will continue doing this, if anyone is interested. Comments are welcome.

To the war
• 01.08.08 – sporadic fighting, which occurred in SO for last 15 years, begins to intensify. Both sides accuse each other in sniper, arty and mortar shelling of other side’ positions. Local fights occur from time to time for hights all around SO.
• 02.08.08 - SOssetians claim they have lost at least 6 men dead and 13 wounded
• 03.08.08 – about 2000 children are evacuated to N. Ossetia.
• 06.08.08 – Georgia said it has lost an APC and 3 soldiers from IED or land-mine explosion. More civilians are evacuating as situation escalates.
• 07.08.08 – Georgia says at least 10 soldiers are killed in the clashes, another 50 wounded.
• 18.00::07.08.08 – Mr. Saakashvili publicly orders unilateral ceasefire, and calls for talks in any format about future of SOssetia.

Day 1. War of 888
• 22.00::07.08.08 – Georgian Arty starts heavy shelling of Tskhinvali and SO villages from nearby Georgian villages of Tamarasheni, Ergneti, Zemo-Nicozi
• 23.30::07.08.08 - first reports of MRLS shelling of Tskhinvali from Gori and Atoci
Below are events of 08.08.08
• 03.25 Georgian infantry, supported by tanks, moved towards Tskhinvali, taking several SO villages in their way
• 04.00 units from 19th MRD (near Vladikavkaz) and 135th Detached MRR are ordered to move into conflict zone
• 06.00 Georgian infantry enters southern outskirts of Tskhinvali
• 08.00 heavy street fighting between Georgian infantry and SO militia
• 09.00(???) first BTGs from 19th MRD enter SO through Roki tunnel
• 09.20 Georgian media claims (for the first time) GAF have taken Tskhinvali
• 10.00 SO officals deny that GAF controls Tskhinvali.
• 10.30 Georgian spokesman claims that Georgian territory is bombed by Russian military planes
• 11.00 Georgian spokesman claim GAF are in control of all villages and towns in SO, except for mountainous village of Java
• 11.10 Mobilization is declared in Georgia
• 11:40 Saakashvili blames Russia for military aggression
• 12:00 Reports comfirm, that heavy street fighting continues on the streets of Tskhinvali
• 12:30 Russian peacekeepers, stationed in the conflict zone claim they are being attacked by Georgian troops
• 13:10 Russian MoD claim that ‘peacekeepers in the conflict zone would be protected’. To that moment no Russian officials have confirmed that RA troops are already moving into the conflict zone
• 14.00 'Georgia-online' web-site reports that 58th army troops have unsuccessfully tried to break into SO, but were beaten back
• 14.20 (???) Life.ru web-site hosts short video of Russian armored column, moving through SO. It appears to be first documentary evidence of RA troops in SO
• 15.00 Pres. Medvedev appears on TV, blaming Georgia in severe prohibition of international law and promising to 'punish' 'those responsible' severely
• 14.00-15.30 SO relief force (possibly accompanied by RA arty) from the village of Java are counterattacking Georgian troops in Tskhinvali and on Zar road
• 15.10 It is officially confirmed, that RA troops are in SO to ‘help peacekeepers’
• 15.30 BTGs from 19th MRD and 135th Detached MRR arrive to Java and begin their movement to Tskhinvali
• 15.50 Georgia threatened to declare war to Russia, if it would be confirmed that there are RA troops in SO
• 16.10 Russian armored units enter Tskhinvali
• 16.15 Russian planes bomb Georgian AF base near Visiany, where American instructors are stationed
• 16.30 first (unofficial) reports about ‘rush’ on several Black Sea Fleet (BSF) ships in Sevastopol harbour
• 17.00 SO and Russian troops are able to drive most Georgian forces out of Tskhinvali
• 17.30 Abkhazia clams that they are ready to open second front in Georgia
• 18.00 Russian military planes bomb Georgian AF base near Marneuli
• 18.00 Chief of Russian Land Forces (Army General V. Boldirev) is apponted commander of operation in SO.
• 19.00 Georgia first claims they are to pull Georgian troops out of Iraq
• 19.30 Russian MoD claims that most Georgian Arty positions around Tskhinvali are suppressed
• 20.00 Georgian info agency web-site (Ãðóçèÿ. Íîâîñòè | Ãðóçèÿ Online | Êîíôëèêòû - Àáõàçèÿ, Þæíàÿ Îñåòèÿ) is attacked by hackers
• For the whole night, both sides of the conflict are pulling more forces into the conflict zone

**Knaur Amarsh** · 17 Aug 08,, 16:27

Originally Posted by Shuriff

Good day, everyone!
Below is a russian view on the timeline of conlict in Georgia. I have compiled it from various sources, namely lenta.ru news portal, milkavkaz.net board, vim152.livejournal.com, tarlith-history.livejournal.com and sirjones.livejournal.com blogs.
I've tried to be as unbiased as I can, but its up to members of this community to judge if I've been succesful in that.
I've also tried to concentrate on evens and claims, which seemed most important to me. More info can be found in original sources, listed above.
In most cases, its impossible to state presice time, when certain event has happend, so in most cases I've rounded specified time.

Thanks Shuriff, appreciated

**zraver** · 17 Aug 08,, 17:34

Shuriff, since your time line admits the Russian Army was moving within minutes of the Georgian Army that is pretty unbiased, good job!

**Shuriff** · 17 Aug 08,, 19:43

Originally Posted by zraver

Shuriff, since your time line admits the Russian Army was moving within minutes of the Georgian Army that is pretty unbiased, good job!

Thanks, but I'll still dare to point out that I've only provided the facts (or at least the closest thing to the facts I could get right now). Interpretation of these facts is completely another matter, and it will obviously differ from person to person.

**zraver** · 17 Aug 08,, 22:46

Originally Posted by Shuriff

Thanks, but I'll still dare to point out that I've only provided the facts (or at least the closest thing to the facts I could get right now). Interpretation of these facts is completely another matter, and it will obviously differ from person to person.

Accordng to your data, the 19th MRD was rolling within 35 minutes of the Georgian army moving out. Even based on your time line the 19th was already ready to go by the time shelling started as it takes longer than 6 hours to arm/fuel a unit for combat and prep its route.

**Shuriff** · 18 Aug 08,, 05:23

Originally Posted by zraver

Accordng to your data, the 19th MRD was rolling within 35 minutes of the Georgian army moving out. Even based on your time line the 19th was already ready to go by the time shelling started as it takes longer than 6 hours to arm/fuel a unit for combat and prep its route.

Ok, I agree that they were ready to roll in, that's for sure. However, i'd like to add several points to consider
1. Methniks by 4.00 nobody on the russian side even knew that georgian troops are already moving. AFAIK we don't have recon assets that could tell that in real-time
2. It was pretty much obvious by midnight already, that this is war, not another border skirmish. Yet it is quite fast on our side to take decidions in only 4-5 hours. So yes, we can be sure, that there was some plan and it was put into action
3. Around 04.00 troops haven't started to roll out of their bases, they've only recieved order to do that. However, its clear that they did roll out in several hours after that, so yes, they were pretty much prepared

**zraver** · 18 Aug 08,, 05:30

Originally Posted by Shuriff

Ok, I agree that they were ready to roll in, that's for sure. However, i'd like to add several points to consider
1. Methniks by 4.00 nobody on the russian side even knew that georgian troops are already moving. AFAIK we don't have recon assets that could tell that in real-time
2. It was pretty much obvious by midnight already, that this is war, not another border skirmish. Yet it is quite fast on our side to take decidions in only 4-5 hours. So yes, we can be sure, that there was some plan and it was put into action
3. Around 04.00 troops haven't started to roll out of their bases, they've only recieved order to do that. However, its clear that they did roll out in several hours after that, so yes, they were pretty much prepared

1- SO partisans calling the Russians, "oh sh&t help we're being over run."

2- Russian peace keepers, "oh sh&t help we're being overrun."

Russia had eyes and ears on the ground and only a fool doubts Russia's elint, signint and humint ability in its own backyard.

Anyway you cut it, Russia was ready to move. This strongly implies one of two things. Either they were going to invade Georgia no matter what. Or they could have delievered a credible ultimatum to forestall the Georgian action and did not. Both of these possibly situations make one look at what Russia ultimately intended, and I don't think keeping the peace had anything to do with it.

**Shuriff** · 18 Aug 08,, 05:53

Originally Posted by zraver

1- SO partisans calling the Russians, "oh sh&t help we're being over run."

2- Russian peace keepers, "oh sh&t help we're being overrun."

Russia had eyes and ears on the ground and only a fool doubts Russia's elint, signint and humint ability in its own backyard.

Anyway you cut it, Russia was ready to move. This strongly implies one of two things. Either they were going to invade Georgia no matter what. Or they could have delievered a credible ultimatum to forestall the Georgian action and did not. Both of these possibly situations make one look at what Russia ultimately intended, and I don't think keeping the peace had anything to do with it.

Yes, we were ready to move in, it could be seen by results without any timeline. We've been discussing this for quite a while in the original SO thread, there are other options on why we were ready. I really don't want to digg into this once again in this particular thread.

**Dreadnought** · 18 Aug 08,, 18:17

Originally Posted by zraver

1- SO partisans calling the Russians, "oh sh&t help we're being over run."

2- Russian peace keepers, "oh sh&t help we're being overrun."

Russia had eyes and ears on the ground and only a fool doubts Russia's elint, signint and humint ability in its own backyard.

Anyway you cut it, Russia was ready to move. This strongly implies one of two things. Either they were going to invade Georgia no matter what. Or they could have delievered a credible ultimatum to forestall the Georgian action and did not. Both of these possibly situations make one look at what Russia ultimately intended, and I don't think keeping the peace had anything to do with it.

And, I believe the false passports provide an even closer look as to what Russia was supposed to be protecting. Russia was moving on this for sometime before the invasion.

**Shuriff** · 19 Aug 08,, 16:17

Good day!
I've finally finished timeline of events I was working on. Hope is would be interesting for members of this community. Comments are welcome

Day 2 - 09.08.08
Evidence suggest that for most of the day both sides were fighting for supremacy in Tskhinvali. There were numerous reports of street-fighting in Tskhinvali and nearby during the whole day. Fighting severly intensified at about 20.00, when Georgian troops have tried to encircle Tskhinvali
•00.20 Mrs. Rice appeals to Russia to pull troops out of SO
•00.30 Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs web-site is attacked by hackers. A collage, comparing Pres. Saakhashivi to a Hitler is put on the main page
•02.00 Georgian arty begins another shelling of Russian troops in SO
•02.00 Strategic objects in Georgia are being evacuated (MoD, Saakhashvili’s residence and several other)
•09.50 Pres. Medvedev declares the beginning of ‘peace enforcement operation’
•10.10 Georgian MoD claim, that GA is controlling most of the SO territory, including the town of Tskhinvali and are successfully continuing with their offensive
•10.50 Russian military planes bombed Georgian arty positions near Gori
•11.00 Reports from Tskhinvali state, that georgian arty starts another heavy shelling of Tskhinvali
•11.10(???) Heavy fighting for heights near Tskhinvali. Georgian troops are trying to encircle Tskhinvali (???)
•11:30 Units from 76th AD division arrive to SO
•11.50 Russian MoD claim RA troops control the whole town of Tskhinvali
•12.10 Georgian MoD claim, that they have shot down 10 russian planes
•12.30 Russian MoD confirms the loss of two military planes (Tu-22M3 and Su-25)
•13.30(???) Gen. Khrulev, commander of 58th army is wounded during an ambush in SO
•14.00 Georgian arty starts another shelling (storming ???) of Tskhinvali
•14.40 Georgian news site claims that RA troops were ‘beaten away’ from SO
•14.50 Pres. Saakhashvili proposes a cease-fire
•15.10 Russian troops claim they are dueling Georgian arty on Priss Heights and are fighting for Georgian village of Nicozi near Tskhinvali
•15.30 Georgia declares martial war
•16.00 G.W. Bush appeals for Russia to stop fighting
•16.40 Russian diplomats on Georgia claim, that all web-sites in .ru domain are blocked
•17.00 Abkhazia claims they are to start militaty operation in Kodori
•17.50 Pres. Saakhashvili claims Georgian forces has killed 60 russian specnaz troopers
•19.10 SO fighters claim they have destroyed 10 Georgian tanks in Tskhinvali during the day
•19.40 Pres.Saakhashvili publicitly proposes Pres. Medvedev a cease fire
•20.00 Georgian troops are attacking Zari road and Tskhinvali, trying to cut Tkhinvali from the rest of SO
•21.40 Georgian news agency claims that Georgian SF forces have blown up Roki tunnel
•22.20 Russian MoD stated that Roki tunnel is not blown up and is functioning normally
•23.00 Reports about heavy fighting in Tskhinvali
•23.50 Azerbajan stops transit of its oil through Georgia

Day 3 - 10.08.08
During that day fighting continued in SO, yet the intensity has dropped significantly. For the whole day there were numerous reports about fighting for villages around Tskhinvali and sporadic shelling of the town by Georgian arty. Presumably, during the day RA troops in SO have managed to achieve rough numerical parity with Georgian troops (considering SO militia???)
•00.20 Russian planes bomb several targets in Kodori Ridge
•01.20 BP representatives claim that they don’t know anything about bombing of BTC pipeline
•06.20 (???) Russian military planes bomb Tbilisi air factory
•06.30 BSF ships are moving towards Georgian coast
•07.20 Reports of continuous fighting in Tskhinvali and for heights around the town
•08.40 Abkhaz military begin their offensive in Kodori Ridge
•09.30 Georgian interior Ministry claim they are to pull forces out of SO
•09.50 Russian troops in SO deny that Georgian troops are pulling out of Tskhinvali
•10.00 A group of BSF ships has arrived to Abkhazian coast
•12.00 Reports that foreign citizens are leaving Georgia in numbers
•12.40 Georgian spokesman confirms that Tskhinvali is controlled by RA
•14.00 Russian MoD confirm that Georgian troops are pulling out of Tkhinvali
•14.00 State Department spokesman calls Russian response ‘disproportional’ for the first time
•17.30 Abkhaz military claim they have taken positions on Georgian border (Inguri river)
•19.00 Georgia declares a cease-fire
•20.00 Russian and Georgian Ministers of Foreign Affairs begin their first direct talks
•22.30 Several Georgian missile boats are trying to attack BSF ships. At least one of attacking boats is sunk

DAY 4 - 11.08.08
•00.20 Reports about shelling of Tskhinvali
•04.10 Georgian spokesman claims that Russian planes are bombing targets in Kodori Ridge
•07.40 Reports about shelling of Tskhinvali
•09.30 Reports about 9000 Russian troopers in Abkhazia
•10.40 Abkhazia claims they are blocking Kodori Ridge and are proposing Georgian troops there to surrender
•13.10 Russian MoD confirms loss of another 2 planes
•13.10 Russian MoD confirms that Georgian troopers were delivered from Iraq by USAF planes
•13.25 Russia requests immediate ‘Russia-NATO’ counsel meeting on the situation
•13.52 Pres Saakhashvili signs cease-fire agreement, proposed by Finland and France
•14.10 FSB claims they have captures several ‘Georgian spies'
•15.20 (???) Reports about attack of Tskhinvali by a group of Georgian planes. One of the planes is shot down
•15.50 Reports about shelling of Tskhinvali
•17.00 Pres. Saakhashvili visits Gori
•17.20 Reports about shelling of SO
•17.40 Georgian MoD claims they have shot down 19 Russian military planes
•18.20 First reports about Russian troops, operating in Weastern Georgia (Zugdidi and Senaki)
•18.40 Reports about attack of Tskhinvali by a group of Georgian helicopters (Mi-24s?)
•19.20 Russian MoD confirms that units from Chechen GRU battalions ‘East’ and ‘West’ are operating in SO
•19.40 (???) Georgian troops are leaving Gori
•20.40 Russian MoD deny that RA troops are in Gori
•21.40 Pres. Saakhashvili states that RA troops have captured Gori and have divided Georgia in two halves
•22.10 170 American citizens are evacuated from Georgia
•23.00 Russian MoD claims that RA troops have left Senaki

Day 5 - 12.08.08
•00.31 Georgian PM claims that Russian troops have taken town of Poti
•00.50 Russian MoD denies that Russian troops have captured Poti, however, they confirm, that a small recon force operates in that area
•06.00 Abkhazia started ‘active phase’ of operaton in Kodori Ridge
•09.20 Reports claim that 12 people were wounded during the night mortar shelling of Tskhinvali
•10.30 (???) Reports about fighting 20 km south of Tskhinvali
•11.20 Russian military planes bomb Gori
•12.50 Pres. Medvedev proclaims end of ‘peace enforcement operation’
•13.00 USA blocks ‘Russia-NATO’ counsel meeting
•14.15 Pres. Sarcozi and Pres. Medveded start peace negotiations
•16.00 (???) ‘Peace Manifestation’ massive meeting begins in Tbilisi
•16.30 Pres. Saakhashvili calims that Georgia is to leave CIS
•11.00-20.00 Continuing reports about shelling and local fighting from both sides
•20.40 Both in Russia and in Georgia 13.08.08 is declared ‘mourning day’

**~~pate~~** · 20 Aug 08,, 06:53

Nice work Shuriff. Are you thinking of continuing this timeline for a few more days or do you think you've got most of the big stuff out of the way?

**Kansas Bear** · 20 Aug 08,, 07:03

Shuriff, you need to post this to wikipedia(with references). Information such as this needs documenting.

**Shuriff** · 20 Aug 08,, 07:49

Originally Posted by pate

Nice work Shuriff. Are you thinking of continuing this timeline for a few more days or do you think you've got most of the big stuff out of the way?

Thanks. I've thought about continuing, but really for the most part that would be a timeline of rhetorics from all sides and messages of Russian troops rolling here and there in Georgia. Maybe when dust settles a little bit.

**Shuriff** · 20 Aug 08,, 07:54

Originally Posted by Kansas Bear

Shuriff, you need to post this to wikipedia(with references). Information such as this needs documenting.

Thanks for idea, I'll think about it, but I want to wait little more on this. As time passes, more and more info is appearing. At the very least, I want to wait till participants of conflict on both sides return home and tell thier stories. Milestones are there, but all info really needs checking.