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TIMELINE: Georgia and Russia's worsening relations

Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:58am EDT

(Reuters) - Georgia recalled all but two of its diplomats from Moscow in protest on Wednesday after Russia recognized its rebel South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions as independent.

World  |  Russia

The issue of South Ossetia's independence has bedeviled Georgia's relations with Russia. Here is a short chronology of recent major events:

April 16 - Russian President Vladimir Putin orders officials to establish semi-official ties with separatist administrations in Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgia says the order is a violation of international law.

April 29 - Russia dispatches extra troops to Abkhazia to counter what it says are Georgian plans for an attack. The next day NATO accuses Moscow of increasing tensions with Georgia.

May 6 - Georgia says Russia's deployment of extra troops in Abkhazia has brought the prospect of war "very close".

May 31 - Putin, now prime minister, says he backs a Georgian proposal for Abkhazia's autonomy but not full independence.

July 5 - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urges Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to refrain from "stoking tensions" in Georgia's breakaway regions.

July 10 - Georgia recalls its ambassador from Moscow in protest over Russian fighters flying into Georgian airspace over South Ossetia.

August 4 - Russia accuses Georgia of using excessive force in South Ossetia after Russian-backed rebels said Georgian artillery had killed at least six people.

August 7 - The head of Russian peacekeepers in the region is quoted as saying Georgia and South Ossetian separatists agreed on a truce until they hold Russian-mediated talks.

-- Russia later says Georgia's military operation in South Ossetia shows Tbilisi cannot be trusted and NATO should reconsider its plans to admit Georgia.

August 8 - Russia sends forces into Georgia to repel a Georgian assault on South Ossetia.

-- Saakashvili says the two countries are at war.

August 12 - Medvedev issues orders to stop fighting in the five-day conflict. Both sides sign up in principle to a plan brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

August 16 - Russia signs a peace deal to end the fighting in Georgia but said "extra security measures" were needed before it could begin withdrawing its troops.

August 22 - Russia says it has completed the pullout from Georgia of troops it sent in to reinforce peacekeepers.

August 25 - Both chambers of Russia's parliament pass resolutions urging Medvedev to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent.

August 26 - Russia recognizes South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent. Medvedev says that Tbilisi's desire to seize one of the rebel zones by force killed all hopes for their peaceful co-existence in one state with Georgia.

August 27 - Georgia recalls all but two of its diplomats from Moscow in protest.



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