Russia suspects Georgia of preparing revenge for loss of 2008 August war

According to Russian diplomatic sources, Georgia is planning to try to return the Akhalgori (Leningori) District of South Ossetia by means of force. The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) also finds this threat real. According to a source from this Ministry, the Georgian troops deployed opposite this district, have been recently strengthened, their rotation is intensified; and western instructors are training Georgian militaries in skills of mountain war, applicable in the region.

The "Caucasian Knot" reported earlier that this September General-Colonel Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Joint Staff of Russian Armed Forces, said that the armed forces of Georgia had no potentials to repeat the war in South Ossetia. At the same time, Mr Nogovitsyn emphasized that the Russian MoD does not exclude another Georgia's attempt to launch an operation similar to the one undertaken in August 2008.

The "Vedomosti" newspaper writes today that by capturing the Akhalgori (Leningori) District of South Ossetia Georgia would like to take revenge for losing the war in August 2008.

Deliveries of weapons to Georgia from Ukraine, Czechia, Turkey and Israel continue, and, as reported in November by Nikolai Makarov, chief of Joint Staff of Armed Forces of Russia, now the Georgian army is armed better than before last August. Mr Makarov has specified that he meant deliveries of various arms - means of air defence, small arms and artillery.

He doubts that the weapons can arrive to Georgia from the USA, the "Interfax" reports. At least, if it happens, as the chief of the Joint Staff believes, it is dome not directly but via third countries.

Somewhat isolated from other part of South Ossetia, the Akhalgori District is populated by Georgians to 75 percent, and before last August was controlled by Georgian authorities. According to the source from the Russian MoD, now a Russian reinforced motor-rife company of the Russian army with tanks and artillery is deployed there.

According to an employee of the office of President of South Ossetia, the main problem of the Akhalgori District is a social one. To finish the highway to the district capital and improve the live of residents, additional funds are required, while local residents are willingly taking the South-Ossetian citizenship in order to receive Russian pensions. There is some tension between South-Ossetian frontier guards and Georgian policemen, but it not the pre-war tension, as the source of the edition believes.