He said that people should know that the present Georgian leadership has unleashed terror in Ossetia, killing more than 2,000 people most of them Russian citizens. "Russian peacekeepers have been killed, the capital of South Ossetia - Tskhinvali has practically been completely destroyed, and many other South Ossetian settlements have actually been wiped off the face of the earth. As a matter of fact, it will be no exaggeration to say that the talk is about ethnic cleansing, genocide and war crimes. Humanitarian transporting the wounded and refugees were fired at. The positions and headquarters of the peacekeepers came under attack. As a result, we lost 19 peacekeepers, and 100 of them are wounded," he said.
He said that as a result of Georgian attacks in South Ossetia, a humanitarian catastrophe has broken out in the Caucasian region with tens of thousands of peaceful inhabitants deprived of shelter, water, food and the most elementary services. "The measures, which the Russian side is taking by efforts of our peacekeepers and the additional units sent there to assist them, are aimed at protecting and ensuring the rights of our citizens and at fulfilling our peacekeeping obligations. Our actions completely fall within the purview of Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which states a right to individual or collective self-defence. Our peacekeeping force personnel were attacked," he said.
