In Russia, the Caucasus and some European cities, events were held on Sunday to mark the second anniversary of the start of the August 2008 war in South Ossetia.
In Tskhinvali, the capital of the former Georgian republic, people gathered for the Living Light of Memory event, while in Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow a requiem for the dead was held.
Memorial events were also held in Tbilisi and Gori in Georgia, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made his first visit to Abkhazia, which like South Ossetia completed its drawn out divorce from Georgia after the war.
Medvedev met with President Sergei Bagapsh in Sukhumi, vowing to further develop Russia's relations with the republic, and visited the Russian military base in Gudauta.
On the night of August 7-8, 2008, Tbilisi shelled South Ossetia, Georgian troops attacked the republic and destroyed part of Tskhinvali. Russia, defending the South Ossetians, many of whom have Russian citizenship, sent troops into the republic and after five days of fighting forced out the Georgian forces.
The South Ossetian authorities said more than 1,500 people were killed and 15,000 more were harmed, although Russian prosecutors documented the deaths of 162 citizens. Sixty-seven Russian soldiers, including some peacekeepers, were also killed during the conflict.
Two weeks after a truce was agreed, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Events to commemorate the tragic events of 2008 began on Friday, when the Ossetian communities in Brussels, Strasbourg and Berlin began a series of actions calling for an objective look at the war and condemning the Georgian regime. In Strasbourg, activists protested in front of the Council of Europe.
In turn, Georgian diasporas held a series of protests in several countries in Europe.
In the capital of Turkey, where there are significant Abkhaz and Ossetian diasporas, a rally was held on Sunday.
In Tskhinvali, the action Living Light Memory opened on Saturday at 23:35 Moscow time - the time when the Georgian shells began to fall on South Ossetian territory - and lasted until 06:00.
On Sunday morning in the cathedral in Gori, not far from Georgia's border with South Ossetia, they held a service and requiem for the dead, and youths lined up around Gori's kremlin in a human chain, which symbolized the unity of Georgia. Later, young men and women released white doves into the sky as symbols of peace.
In Tbilisi, in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Church - Catholicos Ilia II celebrated a service in memory of the dead. Also during the two days the names of the victims mentioned his opposition and the authorities, who visited the Fraternal Cemetery in a suburb of Tbilisi Muhatgverdi.
A similar service was held in Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral, South Ossetia's press committee said, with a requiem for those who died as a result of the Georgian aggression.
In Abkhazia, Russia's president also commemorated the victims of the conflict.
He declared that if it were not for Russia's decision to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the region would be in a "protracted, bloody conflict."
In laying a wreath at the monument to the victims of the recent Georgian-Abkhazian war, he reiterated that Russia, by providing military support to South Ossetia and Abkhazia and recognizing them as independent states, had prevented a "bloodbath" in the region.
MOSCOW, August 8 (RIA Novosti)
