Georgia marks fifth anniversary of Russia war

Georgia on Thursday marked the fifth anniversary of its 2008 war with Russia over the separatist territory of South Ossetia, with Tbilisi reaching out to its breakaway regions despite both sides blaming each other for the conflict. Government officials laid wreaths at a cemetery in Tbilisi for servicemen killed in the fighting and met weeping relatives of the dead soldiers as a brass band played funereal music, before heading to the town of Gori -- which was bombed and briefly occupied by Russian forces -- for a military ceremony. On the night of August 7-8, 2008, Georgia's pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili -- who claimed to be reacting to the bombing of Georgian villages -- launched an offensive to reclaim breakaway region South Ossetia only to see Russian forces sweep into Georgia. On the eve of the anniversary five years on, Georgian and Russian politicians traded barbs with each other over responsibility for the fighting, despite some hope that ties between the two foes could be improving. In a rare interview with Georgian television, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev -- who was president at the time of the conflict -- refused to apologise for the conflict, laying the blame squarely at Tbilisi's door and denying Russia has broken a ceasefire deal by keeping its forces stationed in South Ossetia. "I feel that we were obliged to respond in such a way to the aggressive actions that were taken by the Georgian armed forces," Medvedev said in comments broadcast on Tuesday on Georgia's Rustavi 2 channel. "If you're asking if I would do the same thing again: yes," said Medvedev, who also called for direct talks between Georgia and the breakaway regions, said. In the wake of the war, Russia officially recognised the independence of South Ossetia -- and another Georgian separatist region, Abkhazia-- and now has thousands of troops stationed in the regions. In October, Saakashvili's United National Movement party lost out to a coalition headed by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili in parliamentary elections -- prompting hopes for an improvement in ties between Moscow and Tbilisi after diplomatic relations were severed by the war. Ivanishvili, now prime minister, has made normalising relations with Russia his foreign policy priority -- but, despite Russia lifting a seven-year ban on Georgian wine earlier this year, progress has been minimal. Medvedev said Russia was "hearing" the change of tone in Tbilisi but that any moves to improve ties face major obstacles on the ground. "We are ready to see these relations develop but this has to be done taking into account the current realities," Medvedev said. Speaking after the military parade in Gori, Ivanishvili held out an olive branch to the separatist authorities with the offer of direct talks with South Ossetia and Abkhazia. "We are ready for direct dialogue with our Abkhazian and Ossetian brothers," Ivanishvili said. "I am sure, that we will find a common language for united future relationship," he added. Mooted talks between Tbilisi and the separatist regions -- which Georgia considers under de-facto Russian occupation -- have previously gone nowhere, in part due to the breakaway regions demanding official recognition as a prerequisite for talks. Meanwhile, Saakashvili lashed out furiously at Russia, saying Moscow was still trying to strong arm Georgia into dropping its ambitions to join NATO and the EU. "If the Georgian nation wants to say no to its territory and future development... then there are certain possibilities with Russia," Saakashvili said in a televised interview Wednesday. "Otherwise, is a lamb able to negotiate with a wolf?" added Saakashvili, whose second and last term as president expires in the autumn. Ivanishvili has pledged to follow Saakashvili's pro-Western course and a refusal by both sides to budge over the status of the breakaway regions highlights the immense difficulties they face in bridging their differences. On Wednesday Georgia's foreign ministry accused Russia of sabotaging attempts to improve ties by continuing to violate a ceasefire deal that ended the 2008 fighting, including by keeping troops stationed in Georgia's breakaway territories and building new barriers along the de-facto borders. "Instead of withdrawing its forces to their pre-war positions, as set out in the ceasefire agreement, the Russian Federation has exponentially reinforced its military bases, illegally deployed in Georgia's occupied regions, through installing heavy offensive equipment and increasing the number of military personnel," the ministry said. "Notwithstanding the certain degree of positive dynamic in the spheres of economic and humanitarian cooperation, unfortunately, Moscow has further intensified its provocative policies aimed at destabilizing Georgia," the foreign ministry said.