The Russian security forces clashed with the group outside the settlement of Dai in Chechnya and used artillery fire, the Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies quoted security sources as saying.

There were no casualties amongst the security forces, it said. The clash took place at 10:50 am (0650 GMT) on Thursday but these were the first reports to have emerged.

Russia at midnight Wednesday-Thursday ended its decade-long “counter-terrorist operation” in Chechnya, claiming stability had returned to a territory torn apart by two wars since the collapse of communism.

This was the first reported clash since the security regime was abolished.

Moscow fought two full-scale wars with separatist forces in Chechnya after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but the situation has largely stabilised in recent years under strongman pro-Moscow local leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Clash in Chechnya after end of security regime

The history of private military companies started on June 24, 1997, when experts of the US Intelligence Department proclaimed the PMCs as a major tool in the implementation of the military security policy of the United States and its allies in other countries.

The professional level of a private military company is its major advantage. Inexperienced military men are not welcome there. A PMC member is usually a man between 35-40 years of age. A human being of this age is resistant to stresses and emergency situations. In addition, a man of this age can also do routine work very well, which can not be said about younger men.

Potential fighters of the private military companies possess the required level of experience and have an adequate insight, which allows such units to achieve better results in their activities in comparison with regular armies.

A private military company can be very efficient in local conflicts, where the use of regular armies can be complicated for legal reasons. For example, Russia can not send its troops to Nigeria if Nigerian gunmen attack employees of Russian companies – it would be a gross violation of international laws.

Russian PMCs – Tiger Top Rent Security and Orel Antiterror – do not lag behind their US or British colleagues. The only difference is that Russian PMC fighters are paid a lot less.

Russian PMCs took part in the military actions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Lebanon and Palestine.

Russia’s largest companies such as Russian Aluminium (Rusal), Lukoil, Rosneft and Gazprom received a carte blanche to form military structures to protect their interests both inside and outside Russia.

Private military companies supply bodyguards for the Afghan president and pilot armed reconnaissance planes and helicopter gunships to destroy Coca crops in Colombia. They are licensed by the State Department; they are contracting with foreign governments, training soldiers and reorganizing militaries in Nigeria, Bulgaria, Taiwan, and Equatorial Guinea. The PMC industry is now worth over $100 billion a year.

Private military companies to supersede regular armies

ndia has become one of the largest arms importers during the recent years due to the nation’s complicated relations with Pakistan. A third Indo-Pakistan war may break out at any moment. Foreign companies get ready to fight for the Indian billions. France’s Rafale, Europe’s Eurofighter, Sweden’s Gripen and USA’s F-16 and F-18 will be a serious competition for Russia.

Russia’s Sukhoi already conducts cooperation with India : the nation launched the licensed production of Su-30MKI fighters in 2004. However, Russia has another trump card to win a possible contract – the MiG-35 fighter, which will be unveiled at Aero India 2009 air show.

MiG-35 is outfitted with aviation electronics of new generation, including a powerful radar. The aircraft also has optoelectronic systems to fight air and ground targets, a powerful defense complex and latest airborne weapons.

“MiG-35 is virtually a new modification of the old fighter, but it is quite competitive. Its low price and technical advantages leave Western rivals behind,” Konstantin Sivkov of the Academy for Geopolitical Problems told Pravda.ru. “It would also be better for India to buy this fighter for compatibility reasons. The political aspect and the foreign orientation of the political leadership play the most important role on the market of arms. The future tender will test the political orientation of India ,” the expert said.

Russia has all chances to sign the contract with India at this point. The two countries have been maintaining friendly relations with each other for many years. One should not forget the ties between Russia’s MiG Corporation and its Indian partners either. MiG fighters originally appeared in India in 1963, whereas MiG-21 used to be the basic aircraft of the Indian Air Force for years.

The cooperation continues today as well. India’s navy receives the MiG-29K/KUB carrier fighter on a regular basis. The personnel of the Indian Air Force undergoes the technical training in Russia . To crown it all, MiG modernizes India’s MiG fighters and supplies them with necessary spare parts.

Russia’s MiG-35 fighter to win billion-dollar contract and leave US rivals behind

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“At no time did Russian planes enter Canadian air space, but within 24 hours of the president’s visit here … we did scramble F-18 fighter planes from NORAD in Canada command,” Peter MacKay said in a news conference in Ottawa.

The Russian planes were in international waters, about 118 miles (190 kilometers) northeast of Tuktoyuktuk, in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

“It was a routine flight over international airspace,” Yevgeniy Khorishko, a spokesman at the Russian Embassy in Washington, told CBC news.

NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, is a joint U.S.-Canadian agency in charge of aerospace control for the North American continent.

“As has been done on previous occasions, (Canadian pilots) sent very clear signals that are understood, that (the) aircraft was to turn around, turn tail and head back to its own air space, which it did,” MacKay said.

The Russian planes were identified as TU-95 Bear aircraft by NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek.

Canadians intercepted Russian bombers before Obama visit

Russia pushed Friday for greater international involvement in resolving its dispute with Ukraine as Kiev sought to retake some of the diplomatic initiative, hosting officials from three of its European neighbors for talks on the gas crisis.

It was unclear exactly what was to take place in Moscow on Saturday, although the Kremlin accredited reporters for unspecified media events and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was scheduled to return from Berlin to hold talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

EU Energy Commissioner Andries Pielbags and Czech Industry and Commerce Minister Martin Rima are expected to attend a summit on the Russia-Ukraine gas war in Moscow on Saturday afternoon, a spokesman for the Czech EU presidency, Tomas Bartovsky, told AFP.

Russia has called on European leaders to attend the summit, but Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said the EU should speak with one voice.

Croatian deputy prime minister Damir Polancec, Turkey’s Energy Minister Hilmi Guler and deputy prime minister Nazim Ekren will also attend the meeting.

Individual European governments have declined Russia’s invitation to send their leaders to the Moscow “summit,” with France saying notably that conditions would not be “ripe” until Russian gas flowed again through Ukraine.

Topolanek said an “exhausted” EU was trying to avoid “European delegations travelling to Moscow as hostages or supplicants”.

In Kiev, a planned summit of eastern European leaders on the crisis was replaced with a “meeting” bringing together the president of Slovakia, the Moldovan prime minister and the Polish foreign minister, the latest twist in a chaotic story that has major ramifications for European energy security.

Speaking in the Kremlin Friday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the dispute between Russia and Ukraine on gas prices and debt payment had become far more than a bilateral issue.

“Unfortunately, this issue has gone beyond the bounds of bilateral relations,” Medvedev said.

“We are ready to look for any long-term solution. We hope Ukraine is ready to do the same and that our European partners will help bring about the necessary decisions.”

In Berlin, Putin went a step further, bluntly accusing the European Union of “de facto” support for Kiev.

“The position of the European Union, which is putting Russia and Ukraine on a par, constitutes de facto support of Ukraine, which is violating its transit obligations,” he told a press conference after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

France however rejected any European involvement in the standoff.

“This conflict is a bilateral and commercial dispute which has led in an unjustified way to an interruption in supplies to the European Union,” French foreign ministry spokesman Frederic Desagneaux said in Paris.

Before talks with Putin, Merkel through a government spokesman criticised both Russia and Ukraine for failing to meet their commitments to Europe and urged the two to resolve their “bilateral problems” quickly.

But Putin’s idea for a consortium of international companies appeared to gather pace, with Merkel describing a “test phase” under discussion with European gas companies. The consortium would bear some of the disputed costs of gas transit central to the dispute.

“I… spoke today with these companies, and I think there is a way, together with the companies (Russian) Gazprom and (Ukrainian) Naftogaz, to start a test phase” to resume gas imports, Merkel told reporters.

Putin also tried to sound upbeat as Russian officials worked on the plan with companies such as E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany and Italy’s ENI.

He even sounded unusually conciliatory towards Ukraine, saying Moscow wanted to “help” Kiev and that “we should not look for those who are right and those who are wrong. We should not politicise the situation.”

The crisis that began on January 1 with Russia cutting supplies to Ukraine in a payment dispute has meant no gas getting through Ukraine to a swathe of countries in eastern Europe and the Balkans, which have in turn struggled with little or no heating and the forced shut-down of factories.

The International Energy Agency said Russia’s reputation as a reliable supplier had been damaged and lamented that due to lack of gas, “industries are being closed at a time of already poor economic conditions; domestic and other consumers are suffering real hardship.”

The crisis has cost EU states hundreds of millions of dollars (euros).

AFP: Russia, EU, Ukraine set for gas talks

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who represents the EU, secured the agreement of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko in Kiev, after talks with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday at his residence outside Moscow.

The gas shutdown, triggered by Russia’s dispute with Ukraine over prices and debt, renewed calls in Europe to develop nuclear power and alternative sources of energy. Fuel supplies are dwindling as temperatures as low as minus 15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Balkans spur energy demand.

“In some eastern European countries people are sitting there without heating,” said Bernhard Jeggle, an analyst at Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg in Stuttgart. “They’re in a pretty tough situation, but that should be over soon.”

The accord was signed yesterday in Moscow by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, OAO Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller and Czech Trade Minister Martin Riman, according to Russian state broadcaster Vesti-24.

“Ukraine signed the protocol so that Ukraine is not a barrier for Russia to resume gas deliveries to the European Union,” Timoshenko told reporters. Topolanek said Ukraine had met all conditions for Russia to resume gas shipments.

Shuttle Diplomacy

Russia, Ukraine and the EU struck an accord in principle Jan. 8 on monitoring flows of the fuel, paving the way for the resumption of deliveries to the 27-nation bloc. Since then the deal has been held up by disputes on how to deploy monitors.

Earlier yesterday Topolanek said the Ukrainian leadership gave him verbal assurances that Russian experts will be allowed to monitor transit shipments in Ukraine, according to Vesti. At the same time, international monitors will check flows into the Ukrainian pipeline network from Russian territory, he said.

His role as EU mediator is reminiscent of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s shuttle diplomacy between Moscow and Tbilisi during Russia’s invasion of Georgia in August. France, which held the EU presidency at the time, was instrumental in ending the five-day war.

Ukraine and Georgia, both former Soviet republics, have strained relations with Russia in their efforts to join the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Gas Prices

Natural-gas prices in the U.K., Europe’s largest market, initially fell this week on speculation gas could soon be flowing again through Ukraine after EU officials brokered a deal. Gazprom halted transit flows on Jan. 7 after accusing Ukraine of diverting gas intended for other buyers for its own use, a charge denied by the country. Russian supplies to Ukraine itself were suspended Jan. 1 pending a new contract.

European Commission President Jose Barroso “warmly” welcomed the accord today. “We now need the gas to flow immediately to the EU,” Barroso said in an e-mailed statement released jointly with EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs. They said the monitoring teams “will start to do their work as soon as possible.”

A group of 17 EU monitors arrived in Ukraine and a further five were on their way to Moscow, the European Commission said in an e-mailed statement. Two Commission officials were included in the team sent to each country, while the remaining members were experts supplied by European gas companies.

Monitoring Teams

In Ukraine the monitors were dividing into five teams, two of which would travel to the eastern border where the gas arrives near Sumy and Novopskov, two to the western border where it exits near Uzhhorod and one to a dispatching center to coordinate information.

Gazprom is ready to start work resuming gas shipments to European customers via Ukraine as soon as it has confirmation of the accord’s signature, Miller said in a statement yesterday. He said the company had planes waiting to fly experts to the pumping stations. It would first send minimum volumes needed, mainly to Balkan countries, and increase the amount quickly once it was sure Ukraine was not siphoning any fuel.

Once Russia resumes shipments, it will take 36 hours for the gas to start reaching European consumers. Supplies to at least 20 nations have been affected.

Gazprom’s European customers receive 80 percent of supplies through pipelines that cross Ukraine. The Russian exporter, which provides a quarter of Europe’s gas, said its overall deliveries to Europe were cut by about 60 percent on Jan. 7.

European Supplies

Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia were among eastern European countries that maintained curbs on gas use on Jan. 9. Most countries in western Europe have suffered less from the cutoff, tapping stockpiles and alternative supplies to meet demand.

Temperatures were forecast to fall as low as minus 11 degrees Celsius in Zagreb and minus 15 degrees Celsius in Sofia this weekend, according to AccuWeather.com.

NAK Naftogaz Ukrainy Chief Executive Officer Oleh Dubina returned to Kiev yesterday from Moscow after three days of talks on his country’s dispute with Russia on the price Russian wants to charge for 2009 gas deliveries to Ukraine.

“Russia offered us $450 per 1,000 cubic meters, a rate which doesn’t correspond to a European price, and a rate which we cannot accept,” Dubina said in a statement posted on the government’s web site. There is no plan for Dubina to return to Moscow and Naftogaz said “further talks should be conducted by top politicians.”

Ukraine paid Russia $179.50 per 1,000 cubic meters for gas last year.

Energy Alternatives

The dispute, over transit fees and debt as well as the gas price, has come as Ukraine’s leaders, Timoshenko and President Viktor Yushchenko, are facing a financial crisis that has forced them to seek a $16.4 billion International Monetary Fund bailout.

In 2006, Russia turned off all Ukrainian gas exports for three days, causing volumes to fall in the EU, and also cut shipments by 50 percent last March during a debt spat.

The Slovak government yesterday approved the restart of a nuclear reactor, in the face of opposition from the European Union, to meet the country’s energy needs as the halt in Russian gas supplies continued.

Prime Minister Robert Fico told reporters the move would be for a “necessary” period until the gas market stabilizes. The reactor in Jaslovske Bohunice was closed Dec. 31 as part of the conditions imposed on Slovakia when it joined the EU.

The Polish government will also decide next week on building nuclear power plants in Poland, according to Tomasz Misiak, a member of Poland’s ruling party Citizens’ Platform and chairman of Senate’s economy committee.

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

Gazprom said gas supplies to Ukraine would be cut on Thursday but that Russia would do its best to guarantee supplies to Europe.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin earlier said that Ukraine would block supplies to Europe if no deal was done.

Ukraine denies owing money to Gazprom, and says it has guaranteed gas transit.

The European Commission said Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko had given her assurances that there would be “no disruption of gas supplies to clients in the European Union”.

In an announcement which came before the official deadline for the close of the talks, Gazprom said it would cut Ukraine’s supply from 0700 GMT on Thursday.

“The debt to Gazprom for gas supplied earlier was not paid. Despite verbal statements from Kiev, Gazprom did not see any money in its account,” said Gazprom’s chief executive Alexei Miller in a live television briefing.

He criticised Ukraine’s stance during the negotiations as “unconstructive”, and said Gazprom had no legal reason to continue supplying gas to Ukraine.

Mr Miller said the contract to supply gas depended on the full settlement of £2bn in gas bills and late-payment fines levied by Gazprom.

He also suggested that Kiev was seeking to provoke a wider dispute, saying he was “forming the impression that there are political forces in Ukraine which are very eager to see a gas conflict between our two countries”.

A similar row between Gazprom and Ukraine in 2006 led to gas shortages in several EU countries.

‘Unconstructive’

A spokesman for Ukrainian state energy firm Naftogaz, Valentin Zemlyansky, confirmed that the negotiations were over.

Naftogaz said it has paid $1.5bn (£1bn) in outstanding bills to RosUkrEnergo – a Switzerland-registered gas trading company which is acting as an intermediary – but not the fines imposed by Gazprom.

“Europe will receive all the gas Russia supplies it with,” the agency quoted Bogdan Sokolovsky, the Ukrainian president’s representative on energy issues, as saying.

Gazprom is the world’s largest gas producer and supplies a quarter of the European Union’s gas needs, or 42% of the EU’s gas imports, much of it via Ukraine.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin had earlier warned Ukraine not to disrupt the transit of gas to Europe.

He warned of “very severe consequences” for Ukraine in terms of its relations with both Russia and European countries.

Mr Putin said Gazprom had been generous in offering Ukraine a price of $250 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas in 2009, given that the price in Europe was currently more than $500.

He said he understood that Ukraine was in “a difficult economic situation” which was worse than Russia’s, but put the dispute down to a “war of the clans” between the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, and President Viktor Yushchenko.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Russia-Ukraine gas talks collapse

Equipment purchases for national security agencies and secret services were also announced.

UAZ Patriot scout vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles for the Russian Federal Security Service’s border troops and state-of-the-art liquid-crystal displays from Belarus and many other systems were displayed.

However, the star of the show was the PP-2000 conventional blowback operated submachine gun developed in the early 2000s by the famous Instrument Design Bureau (KBP) in Tula, a city 193 km (120 miles) south of Moscow.

The PP-2000 became wildly popular after the government announced its plans to equip the Interior Ministry’s special units with this hard-hitting weapon. It has the following specifications: length (stock closed/open) – 34/58.2 cm, weight – 1.4 kg, effective range – 50-100 meters, and magazine capacity – 20 to 30 rounds.

Unlike the Kalashnikov AKS-74U assault rifle with a 50cm folded-stock length, the PP-2000 can be concealed. This is an ideal police weapon capable of firing handgun cartridges with a lower muzzle velocity. Consequently, the chances of ricochet are minimized.

The PP-2000 can also fire 9×19 7N31 armor-piercing cartridges against body armor and motor vehicles.

Like many other Russian weapons, the easy-to-use PP-2000 has a rudimentary design for quick maintenance and repairs. All production versions are fitted with Picatinny rail for installing various sighting devices.

They have begun producing PP-2000s for the Interior Ministry’s special units. The authorities will have no trouble requisitioning and issuing these sturdy and convenient weapons to its patrolmen, traffic police and other units.

Consequently, it will become possible to equip drivers/mechanics, surface-to-air missile (SAM) system operators, gunners and other military personnel with AKS-74U assault rifles, which are smaller than full-size Kalashnikov rifles and are more effective than handguns or submachine guns.

Apart from weapons and special equipment for police and secret-service units, the exhibition featured civilian products, including numerous cold-steel weapons and fearsome-looking “household knives.”

Large companies and self-employed businessmen displayed hunting and carving knives, as well as intricate Damascus-steel weapons with lavishly decorated wooden handles.

Motorists came to see SUVs assembled by GAZ Group in Nizhny Novgorod and the Ulyanovsk Automotive Plant (UAZ) and the less popular Trekol cars.

UAZ showed its conventional and armored command vehicles and the Bars and Patriot SUVs used by the border troops and the Interior Ministry.

A border force spokesman said there was no alternative to UAZ vehicles in Russia, and that they would continue to order them. The border troops operate upgraded UAZ SUVs.

The exhibition also featured the Lavina (Avalanche) riot-control vehicle with water cannons for dispersing aggressive crowds. Some production vehicles featured various types of additional equipment. An UAZ Bukhanka (Bread Loaf) SUV with an electric theft-prevention system will give any car thief the jolt of his life.

Well-informed sources said the public may soon get to see classified equipment displayed at several pavilions closely guarded by Federal Security Service operatives.

Moscow News – National – Russian police to receive new weapons

Asked about a Russian warship transiting the Panama Canal earlier this month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — who saw the ship while crossing the canal last week — told The Associated Press: “I guess they’re on R&R. It’s fine.”

The Pentagon, while puzzled by the Russians’ actions, also is taking a ho-hum attitude. The U.S. military commander for the region, Adm. James Stavridis, head of the U.S. Southern Command, said that from his vantage point, there is no reason to be concerned about the Russian naval activity.

“They pose no military threat to the U.S.,” Stavridis said in an e-mail to the AP on Tuesday.

It was the first such passage by a Russian or Soviet warship since World War II.

There is no suggestion of a military confrontation, but the Russian moves are notable in part because they appear to reflect an effort by Moscow to flex some muscle in America’s backyard in response to Washington’s support for the former Soviet republic of Georgia and elsewhere on the Russian periphery. That includes U.S. missile defense bases to be erected in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The Russians were unhappy with a U.S. decision to send a state-of-the-art warship into the Black Sea as part of an American humanitarian aid mission for Georgia in the aftermath of last August’s war with Russia. The Russians also are angry about the Bush administration’s push to add Georgia and the former Soviet republic of Ukraine as members of the NATO military alliance.

Under the gaze of the U.S. Southern Command, Russian ships this fall held joint exercises with the navy of Venezuela, whose president, Hugo Chavez, is a fierce U.S. critic.

Navy Rear Adm. Tom Meek, the deputy director for security and intelligence at Southern Command, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that he sees little chance of Russia teaming up with Venezuela in a militarily meaningful way.

“I don’t think that Russia and Venezuela are really serious about putting together a military coalition that would give them any kind of aggregate military capability to oppose anybody,” Meek said. “Frankly, the maneuvers they conducted down here were so basic and rudimentary that they did not amount to anything, in my opinion.”

And it’s not just the Russian navy that is showing up in the West.

In September, two Tu-160 long-range bombers, known in the West as Blackjacks, landed in Venezuela — the first landing in the Western Hemisphere by Russian military aircraft since the Cold War ended.

Rice shrugs it off.

“A few aging Blackjacks flying unarmed along the coast of Venezuela is — I don’t know why one would do it, but I’m not particularly going to lose sleep over that,” she said in the AP interview Monday.

She said Russia is welcome to have relations with countries in the West.

“I don’t think anybody’s confused about the preponderance of power in the Western Hemisphere,” Rice said.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has made no effort to hide his irritation at what he considers American arrogance.

“God forbid from engaging in any kind of controversy in the American continent,” he said, referring to his Blackjack bombers flying to Venezuela for a training exercise. “This is considered the ‘holiest of the holy,’” he said during a meeting with Western political scholars at his Black Sea residence in Sochi. “And they drive ships with weapons to a place just 10 kilometers from where we’re at? Is this normal? Is this an equitable move?”

On Monday, the Russian navy announced that a destroyer and two support vessels will visit Cuba for the first time since the Soviet era. The ships are from a squadron that has been on a lengthy visit to Latin America; they are scheduled to put in at Havana on Friday for a five-day stay, navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo said.

Moscow’s support for Cuba fell sharply after the 1991 Soviet collapse, but the Russians have bolstered ties recently.

The joint naval exercises with Venezuela were Russia’s way of “demonstrating to the U.S. that it has a foothold in a region traditionally dominated by the U.S.,” said analyst Anna Gilmour at Jane’s Intelligence Review.

Still, she and many Russian analysts say Moscow’s deployments of warships are largely for show.

Russia’s navy is a shadow of its Soviet-era force, having suffered from a serious lack of investment since the 1991 Soviet collapse. Many ships and submarines have rusted away at their berths, and deadly accidents occur regularly.

Yahoo! News

Under fire from opponents who say he walked into a war Georgia could not possibly win, Saakashvili defended his actions of the night of August 7 during televised testimony before a bipartisan parliamentary commission probing the war.

Saakashvili remains popular among voters, but Georgia’s fractious opposition is using the five-day conflict and its consequences to mount a fresh challenge to the pro-Western president, who came to power with the 2003 “Rose Revolution.”

Saakashvili’s defense was aimed primarily at a domestic audience. Western states did condemn Russia’s intervention, but have not disguised their dissatisfaction with Georgia’s assault on the rebel region. NATO looks certain to again deny Tbilisi a roadmap to membership when alliance foreign ministers meet on Dec 2-3.

Saakashvili dismissed as “utter nonsense” testimony this week by Georgia’s ex-ambassador to Russia, Erosi Kitsmarishvili, who said Tbilisi had been the aggressor having mistakenly convinced itself it had the blessing of the United States.

“We acknowledge and confirm … that the Georgian government took the decision to undertake a military operation in order to offer resistance to a widescale Russian intervention, a widescale assault on a peaceful population,” Saakashvili said.

Defense Minister David Kezerashvili told the commission on Thursday that Georgia attacked the rebel capital Tskhinvali on Aug 7-8 because Russian forces were pouring across the border and it was a matter of time before they began attacking Georgian-populated villages.

But at the time, there was no public statement from the Georgian leadership that Russian forces were invading. The shelling of Tskhinvali after a ceasefire of several hours and the subsequent ground assault was justified as a response to rebel shelling of Georgian villages.

Saakashvili repeated the claim made later that Russia had already invaded and forced his hand, recalling “the most difficult choice of my life.” Russia says the claim is nonsense, and that it intervened in its ex-Soviet neighbor only to defend South Ossetian civilians.

“RED LINE”

“Our answer to the question whether we have undertaken military action is ‘Yes’,” he told the commission. “It was a difficult decision, but it was an inevitable one.”

“It’s the responsibility of any democratically elected leader to defend his country, borders and peaceful population,” he said. “I couldn’t believe they (Russia) would cross that red line, I couldn’t believe they would be first to take this step.”

The war that ensued piled pressure on already strained relations between the West and Russia and deepened concern over the security of the Caucasus as a transit route for oil and gas to Western markets, bypassing Russia.

There had been skirmishes for months in South Ossetia, a pro-Russian region which threw off Tbilisi’s rule in 1991-92.

Russia’s counter-strike to the Georgian assault of August 7 drove the Georgian army out. Moscow’s troops then pushed further into Georgia, saying they needed to prevent further Georgian attacks, but withdrew in October.

The West condemned Russia’s “disproportionate response,” but shied away from imposing sanctions on what for many European states is a vital energy supplier.

Moscow recognized South Ossetia and Georgia’s other rebel region, Abkhazia, as independent states.

Georgia says 228 Georgian civilians and 169 military personnel were killed, while tens of thousands of Georgian refugees have yet to return to their homes.

Reuters