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By Jeffrey Stinson, USA TODAY TBILISI, Georgia — The Georgian government said Saturday night that
Russian forces control half the country and that the nation's railroad
system has been shut down after a bridge was blown.
It also accused Russian forces of deliberately setting fires that
threaten electricity and some cellphone communications as far as
Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. The actions, the government said, are occurring despite Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev having signed a cease-fire agreement earlier
in the day. The cease-fire agreement, which Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili
signed on Friday, calls for the withdrawal Russian combat troops from
the country. It was unclear Saturday night how soon that would be and
what sort of actions will occur in Russian-occupied territory before
they do.. Eka Kguladze, deputy interior minister, said that rail service was shut
down after a bridge was blown in central Georgia along a key east-west
line. Moscow denied it had done so. She said that power lines and cellphone towers are threatened by several
fires raging in various parts of the country in areas that the Russians
control. Russia has refused to let Georgian firefights or fire-fighting
aircraft in from neighboring countries to put them out, she said. The death toll, meanwhile, continues to rise in the Russia-Georgia war
that broke out Aug. 8 and has raised tensions between Washington and
Moscow. Georgia is a U.S. ally. Georgian Health Minister Sandro Kvitashvili put the death toll from the
conflict at 182. Of those, 115 are military deaths and 167 civilian.
Those injured and in hospitals number 479, of which 157 are civilians. He said the number of deaths and injuries are increasing especially
among civilians, although major military action largely ended Aug. 9.
Moscow has said 2,000 people were killed when Georgian forces sought to
retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia, which sparked the war.
Those numbers, however, cannot be confirmed. The death toll could go higher, he said, because Russia is denying safe
access to the areas they occupy to pull out the dead and wounded. He
said he didn't know when he would be allowed in. The United States insists that Russia pull its combat troops out of
Georgia immediately and to borders that existed before Aug. 8. Under the
deal, Russia can keep peacekeeping forces in a breakaway regions. A fast Russian pullout won't happen, Moscow said earlier Saturday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia needed to strengthen
its peacekeeping forces before it could pull back. He gave no timetable,
telling reporters that the withdrawal would take "as long as it takes."
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