Russia opened up a second front in its brutal onslaught against Georgia yesterday – slicing the Black Sea nation in two with a fierce assault that drew harsh worldwide condemnation.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili pleaded for international help as armored Russian ground forces swept deep into the former Soviet republic under the protection of artillery and airstrikes in what amounted to an invasion of the democratic state.
Russian bombers sent shells careening into a key oil pipeline that supplies crude to the West, and Russian ships staged a naval blockade at Poti, a key oil-shipping city.
Russia’s ground forces further bolstered Kremlin-friendly separatist groups from two breakaway regions, in moves apparently intended to subdue Georgia, an American ally that now seeks NATO membership.
The escalating conflict has eerie echoes of the tensest days of the Cold War, with Western nations condemning Moscow’s aggression and defiance.
President Bush slammed the invasion as “unacceptable in the 21st century” and a “dramatic and brutal escalation” that has “substantially damaged Russia’s standing in the world.”
“These actions jeopardize Russia’s relations with the United States and Europe,” said a stone-faced Bush at the White House, who called for an immediate ceasefire. “The Russian government must reverse the course it appears to be on.”
But hard-nosed Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin shot back that the United States is dangerously turning back the clock to the bad old days.
“The Cold War has long ended, but the mentality of the Cold War has stayed firmly in the minds of several US diplomats,” the tough-talking ex-KGB agent said.
At day’s end, an estimated 7,000 Russian soldiers controlled the strategic central city of Gori, 60 miles from the capital of Tbilisi. Gori, which is Joseph Stalin’s birthplace, stands in the middle of a key east-west national highway and the critical oil pipeline.
After suffering heavy losses in earlier combat, Georgian regulars reportedly ceded the city without firing a shot. Fleeing troop transports and tanks competed with civilians for space on the highway.
As many as 20,000 Georgians were displaced by the fighting and streamed toward the capital by car, foot and donkey cart. About 2,000 were reported dead, and hundreds of soldiers from both sides were killed.
Escalating the conflict – which erupted when Georgia sent its military to quell pro-Russian separatists in the border region of South Ossetia – Moscow’s forces drove through the western coastal state of Abkhazia.
Some 9,000 Russian soldiers and 350 armored vehicles moved through the Moscow-friendly province into Georgia proper, taking police stations in Zugdidi and the air-force base in Senaki. It already had 3,000 peacekeepers in the area, which is technically autonomous from Tbilisi.
Among the developments:
* Saakashvili accused Russia of seeking “regime change.”
* The UN Security Council held an emergency session.
* Russia blasted the United States for airlifting 800 Georgian troops from Iraq back to Georgia.
* Some 170 Americans were evacuated from Georgia, the State Department reported.
* Hundreds of ethnic Georgians protested outside the United Nations.
With Matthew Albucher in New York and Post Wires