Georgian parliament calls for withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from South Ossetia

(15 Feb 2006) SHOTLIST
Tblisi - 15 February 2006
1. Wide shot of the interior of the Georgian Parliament session hall
2. Parliamentary deputy speaking
3. Parliamentary speaker, Nino Burdjanadze
4. Wide shot of parliamentary session
File
Southern Ossetia - 1992
5. Various, gun battle between Georgian and Ossetian troops
Tblisi - 15 February 2006
6. Deputies voting
7. Close up of voting screen
8. Wide shot of deputies applauding
9. Close up of Burdjanadze speaking
10. Wide shot of deputies
Georgian-Ossetian border - 14 February 2006
11. Various of the Russian peacemakers with tanks
STORYLINE:
Georgia's parliament unanimously called for the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from the breakaway region of South Ossetia on Wednesday, voting that they should be replaced with international forces.
All 180 lawmakers in the Caucasus Mountain nation's legislature voted for the resolution, which also called on the government to review a 1992 agreement that set up the peacekeeping arrangement in South Ossetia.
The resolution is likely to stoke tensions in the region, where sporadic gunfights periodically break out, and where Georgian officials have repeatedly criticised Russian forces for siding with South Ossetians, nearly all of whom have Russian citizenship.
Earlier this month, fist-fights broke out after Georgian police tried to impound a Russian peacekeeper's truck involved in a traffic accident near South Ossetia.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has vowed to bring South Ossetia, and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, back under central government control. Both have largely run their own affairs since wars in the early 1990s.
Ties between Moscow and Tbilisi have cooled markedly since Saakashvili swept to power more than two years ago during Georgia's Rose Revolution.
Saakashvili has openly courted the United States and other Western nations, seeking membership of the European Union and NATO.
US military instructors have also been helping to train Georgian troops.
A Russian Defence Ministry spokesman said peacekeepers would continue to serve in the region under the 1992 agreement.

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