During August 7-8, 2008 - South Ossetian separatists started attacking the Georgian peacekeepers, ending a ceasefire.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili sends troops into South Ossetia. Russia responds by moving its troops to the border, flying aircraft over Georgia, and beginning air strikes in South Ossetia.
On August 10, 2008 The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs passes a formal request for ceasefire to the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi. On August 12th, 2008 - Russia agreed to halt its military incursion into Georgia and announced a six-point diplomatic push for peace.
On August 15, 2008 - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili signs a cease fire agreement with Russia. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy intermediates the deal.
On August 26th, 2008 - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hastened and signed an order recognizing the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The August 2008 war lasted only five days, but it had serious geopolitical implications on the South Caucasus.
It also created very different outlooks for both Moscow and Tbilisi about the future of the two troubled regions of Georgia.
Russia’s rush towards recognizing the independence of the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia following the 2008 war, shows that the purpose was not merely related to South Ossetia or even Abkhazia!
But it seems that Russia’s actual intention was to expose the inability of the west to prevent Russia from moving aggressively to restore its primacy over one of the former Soviet Union’s territory.
As this war constituted Moscow’s first military aggression against a member of the European Council, it initiated greatest crisis in Russia’s relationship with the West. It is the right time for the west to realize that the Georgian war of 2008 is a sufficient alarm towards the most significant challenge of European Security since the Cold War’s ends.
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