The President signed a decree ‘On Declaring a Day of Mourning for the Humanitarian Disaster in South Ossetia’.

The document notes that Georgian forces, in violation of the peace agreements in place in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone and the UN Charter, and with the sanction of the Georgian leadership, illegally invaded and attempted to seize South Ossetian territory on August 8, 2008, using aviation, heavy artillery and guns and killing the local population. This act constitutes genocide against the South Ossetian people. The city of Tskhinvali and other towns have been practically destroyed, creating a humanitarian disaster in South Ossetia.

Furthermore, an armed attack was launched against a Russian Armed Forces contingent stationed in the region in accordance with international agreements for normalising the situation in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone, which constitutes an act of aggression under the terms of the UN General Assembly’s resolution of December 14, 1974.

As a result of these actions numerous civilians in South Ossetia have been killed and members of the Russian Armed Forces peacekeeping contingent in the region have also lost their lives.

The President expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and declared August 13, 2008 a day of mourning in the Russian Federation.

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