[LINK] "Russian troops in South Ossetia put on high readiness"

[rfmcdonald]

Great news from the Caucasus!

The situation near South Ossetia has become increasingly tense as the first anniversary of the Russian-Georgian war approaches on Friday, with Georgia and Russia blaming each other for provocations and intentions to resume fighting. The war began when Georgia launched an offensive to regain control over Moscow-backed South Ossetia.

South Ossetia's separatists and Georgian authorities have accused each other of firing gunshots and mortar rounds on several occasions over the past few days.

In the latest incident Monday night, South Ossetia's separatist authorities said three mortar rounds were fired into South Ossetia from Georgian-controlled territory. Georgian authorities denied the claim and accused separatists of firing rocket-propelled grenades at a Georgian checkpoint near South Ossetia. No one was hurt.

[. . .]

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said in an interview with France's RTL radio broadcast Tuesday that there is a risk of a new conflict because Russia was putting constant pressure on Georgia. He said that Georgia would not engage in conflict with Russia but would defend itself if necessary.

Meanwhile, a senior Russian diplomat voiced concern about what he said were U.S. plans to provide military assistance to Georgia.

“Washington is playing the key role in rearming the Georgian military machine,” Grigory Karasin, a deputy foreign minister, said in comments carried Tuesday by the Interfax agency. “It would be in the interests of Georgian democracy ... to refuse to arm this country at all.”

Radio Free Europe suspects that what's going on is mainly posturing by everyone involved.