"Agreements made with Georgian participation must be complied with. Regrettably, they are not," he said to the media in Moscow-a brief response to Zurab Zhvania's recent statement, in which Georgia's Prime Minister blamed Russia for exacerbating tensions.
"I am not shifting responsibility to the adventurer who has proclaimed himself South Osset president. All responsibility rests with the country that has shouldered the duties of peaceful settlement guarantor," snapped the Premier with reference to Russia, which has deployed peacekeeping forces in the conflict zone.
"A crime baron and his henchmen are out to keep their dirty business intact. We must prevent Georgian and Osset blood shed once more just to please him.
"We are doing all we can, and even more, to prevent bloodshed.
"It was hard to keep emotion down as the television was casting a footage of Georgian peacekeeper boys abused," Mr. Zhvania said hotly.
An armed force of 200 entered the village Vanati in South Ossetia this morning to disarm Georgian peacekeepers stationed there, say Georgian-based media outlets.
Explanations promptly came from the South Osset top-law-enforcement men were tracking down and detaining armed persons who had illegally penetrated the unrecognised republic with no IDs on them.
"We managed to avoid violence because we knew we had to spare no efforts to prevent another warfare and confrontation in South Ossetia," said Zurab Zhvania.
"The situation is extremely involved, and peacekeepers must do their best to prevent bloodshed"-a point, he says, he had brought home to Igor Ivanov, Russia's Security Council Secretary, as they had a telephone conference.
Mr. Zhvania was addressing the public an hour after Solomon Pasy, OSCE acting president, got him on the phone to say he was, within a few hours, to make an essential statement on developments in South Ossetia, or the Tskhinvali Region, as Georgia has chosen to officially name the recalcitrant republic.
President Eduard Kokoity of South Ossetia also came up with a statement. "We are on the verge of a big war provoked by Georgia, who ignores all South Osset peace initiatives. Arms are being brought en masse to our frontier. Volunteers are addressing us from all over the North Caucasus. They are willing to come. Quite probably, we shall accept the help of our North Caucasian brothers. We are ready to welcome and accommodate them," he said.
Mr. Kokoity called Georgians "to drive armed bandits out of villages, whatever uniforms they might be wearing".
"Don't suffer them turning your land into an army bridgehead and blow the torch of war. If you appeal, we are willing to do all we can to help you restore law and order, and oust banditry. We are ready to protect you," the unrecognised president says in a public address circulated by the republican Press and Information Committee.
"Our nations' reason and goodwill for peace must prove stronger than aggressive schemes the hawks are nurturing in Tbilisi. Irresponsible moves of Georgia's rulers, military and law-enforcement agencies show that Tbilisi does not care a straw about the plight of South Osset villages with an ethnic Georgian majority. Tbilisi has made those Georgians hostage to its criminal policies."
Georgians detained Russian peacekeepers' two weapon-loaded lorries yesterday. President Kokoity is indignant. "It [the detention] has come as practical proof of Georgian authorities being out to thwart peace efforts. They are ready to recur to force any instant," he said.
President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia is now in Iran on visit. To use force in South Ossetia is the last thing he intends to do, he reassured.
"We do not mean to come into armed confrontation with the Tskhinvali Region top. We shall not take the whip before we exhaust all peaceful resources. We are determined to settle the Georgian-Osset conflict peacefully.
"Georgian soldiers were ordered not to use arms, come what may. That was why 36 Georgian Interior soldiers have been taken hostage."
The situation came to an edge today, so the garrisons of all Georgian strong points have been ordered to shoot to kill in case of armed attacks on them, announced President Saakashvili.
South Osset developments first took a violent turn in 1992 after Zviad Gamsakhurdia, then Georgia's president, abolished republican autonomy. An unrecognised republic emerged out of a clash that took a heavy toll of lives. Several thousand ethnic Georgians fled to Georgia. Russian and Georgian peacekeepers were deployed in the conflict zone soon after.
