Russia begins to withdraw soldiers from Georgia / Rusya, Gürcistan'dan askerlerini geri çekmeye başladı

Lake Ritsa (Риҵа / რიწა) in Abkhazia/Georgia.

Source: Deutsche Welle in Turkish.

This is pretty much what most people expected to happen in the end, I think. Russia took its sweet time in withdrawing to show the world it was serious but didn't want to overstay too long in order to avoid any long-term problems, they set up bases in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and for the time being there shouldn't be any more military problems besides going into Georgian airspace and perhaps some tiny conflicts here and there.

Hard to say what's going to happen to Saakashvili and the opposition (because I don't know anything about Georgian internal politics), but I assume the amount of aid coming in will be directly related to how people will feel about whether they want to get rid of him or not. If more aid comes in over the short term than the damage the country suffered during the conflicts (estimated at $1 billion, exactly the amount the United States has promised, plus aid from other countries and loans from the IMF) then Georgians might shrug it off. But once again I don't know anything about internal politics there so I could be wrong.

Rusya, AB ile vardığı uzlaşma doğrultusunda Gürcistan'daki askerlerini geri çekmeye başladı. Moskova aynı zamanda da, Gürcistan'dan bağımsızlıklarını ilan eden Güney Osetya ve Abhazya ile resmi diplomatik ilişkilerini başlattığını duyurdu. Rus tank ve birliklerinin, Gürcü liman kenti Poti ve Güney Osetya ile Abhazya çevresindeki Gürcü topraklarından geri çekilmeye başladığı tüm taraflarca doğrulandı.

Russia has begun to withdraw troops in Georgia as per agreement reached with the European Union. Moscow also announced at the same time that it has begun official diplomatic relations with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which had declared their independence from Georgia. The beginning of the withdrawal of Russian tanks and units from the Georgian port city of Poti and Georgian territory around South Ossetia and Abkhazia was confirmed by all sides.

Bu arada Rusya, Güney Osetya ve Abhazya'daki askerlerinin burada kalmaya devam edeceğini bildirdi. Dışişleri Bakanı Sergey Lavrov, Rus askerlerinin bu bölgelerde "Gürcistan'ın kontrolü yeniden ele geçirme çabalarını engellemek için" bulunması gerektiğini belirtti. Bölgede 7600 Rus askerinin bulundurulacağı haber veriliyor.

Meanwhile Russia informed that soldiers in South Ossetia and Abkhazia would remain where they were. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavror said that they needed to remain "to keep Georgia from working to take control again". It was reported that 7600 Russian troops would be in the region.

Gürcistan'ın başkenti Tiflis'te ise Devlet Başkanı Mihail Saakaşvili'ye baskının arttığı bildiriliyor. Muhalefet partileri, Güney Osetya'ya saldırı kararını kendi başına ve sorumsuzca verdiği gerekçesiyle Saakaşvili'nin istifasını ve devlet başkanlığı ve parlamento seçimlerinin öne çekilmesini talep ediyor. Rusya ise, ABD'den veto gelmesine kesin gözüyle bakılmasına rağmen, BM Güvenlik Konseyi'ne, Gürcistan'a karşı silah ambargosu konulmasını öngören bir karar tasarısı sundu.

Pressure is increasing on President Mikheil in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. The opposition party is demanding the resignation of Saakashvili as well as presidential and parliamentary elections on the grounds that the decision to attack South Ossetia was a solitary and irresponsible decision. Russia, in spite of a certain veto from the United States, has submitted a resolution in the UN Security Council against Georgia for a weapons embargo.