Russian President-turned-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin predictably accused the Georgians of committing ethnic cleansing, and then turned up the military heat. He took the fight to Georgian forces inside South Ossetia and bombed cities inside Georgia proper, including Stalin's town of birth, Gori.
Russia also reportedly instigated separatist forces in Abkhazia, another Moscow-backed separatist Georgian province, to open a second front against Georgian forces, while simultaneously sending the Russian Back Sea Fleet from its base in Ukraine to impose a naval blockade along Georgia's ports.
With United States President George W Bush and various European leaders increasingly putting pressure on Moscow to avoid an all-out war, the situation had reached a crisis point. Russia finally succumbed to the international pressure and declared a ceasefire. But reports claim that Russian forces are continuing their 'rampage' in Georgia.
The mounting ethnic, religious and geopolitical angst troubling the region is likely to worsen, and could again boil over if a pragmatic, all-inclusive decision is not reached.
Image: Georgian nationals, carrying their national flags, demonstrate in front of the Russian embassy in Paris.
Photograph: Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: President Putin's abs-olutely hot!
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