2009-10-07

A report on the Georgian conflict, prepared by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia (IIFFMCG), acting under the auspices of the EU, published its report on 30 September, summing up information on the Russian-Georgian conflict of August 2008. The document allows for various interpretations and provides both sides with arguments to argue their case. Fears that the publication of the report would increase tension both between Tbilisi and Moscow and inside Georgia turned out to be unjustified.

The primary goal of the mission, appointed in December 2008, was to prepare a report on the causes and course of the Georgian-Russian war in August 2008, paying special attention to breaches of international law. The final version of the report consist of 1129 pages and includes a description of the military operations, direct causes and historical background, and a legal analysis. The open-ended formula of the report, which does not provide an unambiguous evaluation of the situation as a whole, is satisfactory to both Russia (as it names Georgia as the initiator of large-scale military activity) and Georgia (as it reveals Russia's key role in escalating tension in the period leading to the conflict, numerous violations of international law before and during the war, and the baseless argumentation used as the pretext for launching the Russian intervention in Georgia). The report also describes the actions taken by the EU and the international community in connection with the conflict, specifying both the failures and successes. The report has been formulated in such a way that neither Brussels, Moscow nor Tbilisi can use it to promote major revisions to the international perceptions of the conflict. Fears that the publication of the report would augment anti-presidential activity in Georgia have proved groundless; attempts by some members of the opposition (Nino Burdzhanadze and Salome Zurabishvili) to exploit it in this way have so far been unsuccessful, and the rest of the opposition are focused on the strictly political struggle over current issues linked to the democratisation of the state. <ks>

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