18 years have passed since the start of the Russo-Georgian War. On August 7, 2008, Russian troops launched an invasion of Georgian territory.
As a result of the war, 228 civilians, 170 military personnel, and 14 police officers were killed. Around 150,000 people were forced from their homes, many of whom remain internally displaced to this day.
The events of August 2008 became the subject of proceedings in several international judicial bodies.
In 2021, in the case of Georgia v. Russia, the Grand Chamber of the ECHR ruled that after the cessation of active hostilities, Russia exercised effective control over Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region. The court also held Moscow responsible for human rights violations, including the ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population, unlawful killings, torture, and ill-treatment.
Crimes committed during the 2008 war were also investigated
by the International Criminal Court. The Hague issued arrest warrants for three former South Ossetian officials—Mikhail Mindzaev, Hamlet Guchmazov, and David Sanakoev. They are suspected of unlawful confinement, torture, and forced displacement of Georgian civilians.
Moscow insists that it entered the conflict only on August 8, 2008—after the shelling of Tskhinvali by the Georgian side. However, numerous facts indicate that Russian units were already present in the region on the 7th.
On August 12, mediated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, a ceasefire agreement was signed in Moscow. However, Russia still fails to fulfill a key condition of this document: it refuses to withdraw its forces to pre-war positions.
As a result of the 2008 war, diplomatic relations between Georgia and the Russian Federation were severed.