Moscow remembers victims of August 2008 war in South Ossetia
MOSCOW. August 9. KAZINFORM More than 500 activists of Russian youth movements gathered near the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow late on Sunday, August 8, on the second anniversary of Georgia's aggression against South Ossetia. The young people lit up candles and observed a minute of silence in memory of civilians and Russian peacekeepers that had died in the republic in August 2008; Kazinform refers to Itar-Tass.
"We are holding our action called 'Candle of Memory' to remind the world that early on August 8, 2008 the Georgian troops began the shelling of Tskhinval from the Grad mobile artillery rocket system and then stormed the city with tanks. Russian peacekeepers and hundreds of civilians died in the aggression," Maria Kislitsyna, an activist of the Nashi youth movement, told Itar-Tass.
"We are grieving for all who died in those terrible days and demand condemnation of Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili," Kislitsyna went on to say.
Two years ago, overnight from August 7 to 8, the Georgian authorities launched military hostilities against South Ossetia and began mass shelling of its capital, Tskhinval. On August 8, Russia sent its troops to South Ossetia to protect Russian citizens residing in the region and help the Russian peacekeepers; the warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet reached the shores of Abkhazia. Sixty-five Russian servicemen were killed and about 250 were wounded in the five-day conflict. South Ossetia lost about 90 troops and volunteers; hundreds of civilians were killed. The aggression by Georgian government forces in August 2008 caused a huge economic damage to South Ossetia. Most of its infrastructure was gone. Many civilians lost their homes and became homeless. More than 2,500 residential buildings were destroyed.