Russia Says the Fight is Finished But Georgia is Telling a Different Story
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Tony Harris.</s>HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, everybody. I'm Heidi Collins. See events come into the NEWSROOM live on Tuesday, August 12th. Here's what's on the rundown. Russia says it's halting its military blitz into Georgia. Does the situation on the ground tell a different story?</s>HARRIS: One, two, three, four blows to the face. Police officers hit and kick a handcuffed man.</s>COLLINS: No bear hugs? What about hive fives? Priests get a list of the dos and don'ts of touching. Keep your hands to yourself, in the NEWSROOM. Russia says it has stopped its attack, but Georgia says the bombings continue, even after the pledge. Let's set the stage now. Today Russia's president said the former Soviet Republic had been punished enough for its attack on South Ossetia. The province had tried to break away from Georgia and align with Russia. Moscow's pledge to halt the fighting came as French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in Russia. He is hand delivering Western demands that Russia pull back its troops. The United Nations and NATO also called meetings today. Russia stirred international concerns by launching attack deep into Georgia, a U.S. ally. The push went beyond the provinces that have close ties to Russia. Inside Georgia now, a massive rally showing support for the Democratic government. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is in the capital city of Tbilisi. He's joining us now via broadband. Frederik, tell us what you're seeing around us -- around you and behind you there. We see quite a few people gathering.</s>FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Heidi. That rally that you were talking about has just now come to an end, only a couple minutes ago. The people here are clearing the square here. We're actually right in front of the parliament building. Only a couple of minutes ago, though, this place was absolutely full of people. We believe that it was about 50,000 who had gathered here for the demonstration here in the middle of town. The Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, addressed the people of Georgia who had come here. He said -- called on them to stay patriotic, to be behind their country and its leadership, and that was really why the people gathered here in the center of Tbilisi, many of them waving the Georgian flag, singing the Georgian national anthem, and also, of course, showing solidarity for their country and also for their government. Now you said it, Heidi, it's very questionable either with the announcement by the Russian government that they are going to stop their military operations in Georgia whether the conflict here is really coming to an end. The Georgian authority are telling us that even after the announcement was made by the Russian government that Russian war planes dropped bombs on two villages in Georgia outside of the breakaway regions of Southern Ossetia. That coming after earlier this morning. We are receiving reports from the Georgian governments that Russian war planes were bombing the city of Gori. Now that's a very important strategic town and one that was -- had to be abandoned by Georgian forces yesterday. They were forced to retreat from that area under heavy fire from Russian war planes and also from Russian artillery. The Georgians then later regrouped around the capital city of Tbilisi later. The Russians, of course, for their part are saying they never had the intention to march into the capital of Tbilisi. They are now saying their military operations have come to an end -- Heidi.</s>COLLINS: Boy, it certainly sounds like a story that we need to continue following here, given sort of the two different sides of the story, clearly. Frederik Pleitgen, joining us from Tbilisi this morning -- Frederik, we'll stay in close contact. Thank you.</s>HARRIS: Let's remind you, again, of the key players to watch in this crisis. Russian president Dmitry Medvedev says his troops must defend themselves and crush any signs of Georgian resistance. Earlier he met with the French president, Nicholas Sarkozy, who also serves as the president of the European Union. And President Sarkozy hand delivered western demands that Russia pull back its troops. He'll also visit the capital of Georgia in Tbilisi. He will meet with Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili, has already signed a cease-fire agreement. Now we want to give you a better look at the map and the troop movements we have been talking about. Our Josh Levs is joining us now from the NEWSROOM. And Josh, I'm looking forward to this. Sort of lay out that map. Explain it to us.</s>JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean it's a confusing story, obviously. Fortunately, sometimes all you need to simplify is a pretty simple map which I have behind me on this screen. Let's zoom in on. I want to tell you, first of all, what the big players are and also a key headliner I'm about to show you. First of all, this is what we're talking about. Russia here, Georgia here. And this area in yellow on your screen right along here, that is South Ossetia, where everything began right here. And yes, I'm saying Ossetia for now. We'll talk pronunciation.</s>HARRIS: Yes, yes.</s>LEVS: So this is South Ossetia. Last week, because there had been separatists fighting going on, Georgia sent some troops in, had a crackdown, Russia then responded, sent their troops in. Later on it expanded throughout here. But this is why I want to show you this region. For years now Russia and Georgia have both had peacekeeping troops in this area, South Ossetia. Russia said something today, Tony, that's big. Russia has said, sure, yes, they're planning to end their assault, but they've also said they don't want any Georgian troops returning to South Ossetia, and they're saying they want a demilitarized zone, which would effectively mean no Georgian troops all along here, along the outside of South Ossetia, which could effectively give Russia military supremacy in this region that has been at battle for years. Now we don't know if this will be talked about in international courts, but Russia is saying no Georgian troops come back inside South Ossetia. That would be big.</s>HARRIS: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Does...</s>LEVS: Yes.</s>HARRIS: Does Russia want to, in effect, annex South Ossetia?</s>LEVS: Russia's not saying that and I'm not suggesting that. I'll tell you a little bit of history so you'll understand what we're saying here.</s>HARRIS: OK.</s>LEVS: South Ossetia -- the majority of people in South Ossetia have voted to break away independence from Georgia. There are also a lot of them that want to reunify with North Ossetia which is in Russia. Russia already supports the autonomous government, so there is a relationship there. And there are a lot of analysts who tell us, yes, Russia wants real presence in South Ossetia.</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>LEVS: Wants that chunk of Georgia. Russia isn't saying we are going to take...</s>HARRIS: Yes, yes.</s>LEVS: But they are saying no Georgian troops back into there, which is big. And that's one of the headlines for today. Will Georgia ever agree to that? And what would that mean for Russia in that area? So that's -- go ahead.</s>HARRIS: Well, I'm just -- just to be really clear about this.</s>LEVS: Yes.</s>HARRIS: South Ossetia is within the territorial boundaries...</s>LEVS: Yes.</s>HARRIS: ... borders of Georgia.</s>LEVS: Yes. It's inside Georgia, but it's an autonomous region. The desire inside South Ossetia to break away goes back decades and decades...</s>HARRIS: Yes.</s>LEVS: ... to the Soviet era. There was a battle in the '20s -- 1920s over this. There was more fighting in the early '90s. That's when they created this agreement and they have made a cease-fire agreement. That's why you've had Georgian peacekeepers...</s>HARRIS: Exactly.</s>LEVS: ... and Russian peacekeepers. But for Russia to now say no Georgian troops return to this area, plus a demilitarized zone around it, that could effectively give Russia supremacy in South Ossetia, which would be very big for what we're talking.</s>HARRIS: And I'm going to keep asking you...</s>LEVS: Yes. It's all right.</s>HARRIS: ... this question, this particular one, throughout the morning. Tell us again why all of this is critical to the United States.</s>LEVS: OK, sure. And for this we actually have a graphic listing some of them. Let's go to that graphic right here. I want to show you four of the big key reasons why United States and some other nations care. First of all, instability in the region would be a very big deal for the entire world. Really, no major nation wants instability in general in that area. Then, it's a key oil transit line. Ali Velshi will join...</s>HARRIS: We're going to talk about that with Ali in just a couple minutes. Let's breakdown.</s>LEVS: Yes, I mean Ali -- he's going to trace it out for us. It's key and that's really important to a lot of the world. Also, Georgia is a big U.S. ally. Don't forget, this is a time in U.S. history where the U.S. needs every ally it can possibly get. Georgia's an ally, troops in Iraq, Georgia has a relationship -- the U.S. doesn't want to lose that. Both major presidential contenders, Obama and McCain, are standing by Georgia in a lot of ways. Everyone recognizes it as a key ally. And the last thing we're pointing out there -- this is important, too -- Georgia wants to join NATO. Russia does not want to see NATO expand eastward into its area. There's kind of a power play going on. The U.S. supports NATO. A lot of Western nations, obviously, support</s>NATO. HARRIS: Yes.</s>LEVS: Want to see that expansion. Those are all big reasons that the U.S. cares, that a lot of the west cares, and another reason that we will be all over it here -- Tony.</s>HARRIS: Absolutely. And I should mention that you are standing over in the international desk area of our news room and that team -- I don't know if we can get a shot of them -- but that team...</s>LEVS: Let's turn that a little bit.</s>HARRIS: ... is really working hard on this story.</s>LEVS: Yes.</s>HARRIS: And any updates that we share with you from the anchor desk or Josh shares with you from that area, those updates are coming from that team, as you can see, hard at work on the story. Josh, good to see you. See you in another hour or so.</s>LEVS: You got it. Thanks a lot.</s>COLLINS: In Pakistan this morning, deadly violence. Police say that at least 12 people were killed by a bomb targeting an air force bus. The powerful explosion left a large crater in the road beneath the burning wreckage of the bus. It happened in Peshawar, the capital of a province near the Afghan border. Islamic militants in the region have said they will retaliate against a military crackdown that began in June.</s>HARRIS: So the rain, at least for now, is over in the northeast, but I guess it's heading to the south. We could use it here. That's for sure. There he is, Rob Marciano with the weather. Rob, good morning.</s>HARRIS: Terrific.</s>COLLINS: OK. We'll check back.</s>HARRIS: Thank you, Rob.</s>COLLINS: Thank you, Rob.</s>MARCIANO: All right.</s>COLLINS: Back to the fight for Georgia now. Will the shooting put holes in oil pipelines to the west? The CNNMoney team investigates.