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Russian military pushes into Georgia

TBILISI, Georgia (CNN) — The Russian military advanced into Georgia on two fronts Monday, heading cities outside the breakaway provinces that have been the centers of fighting.

From the flashpoint South Ossetia, the Russian military moved south towards the central Georgia city of Gori, Georgia said. Russia said its troops were on the outskirts of the city.

A CNN crew in Gori saw Georgian forces piling into trucks and leaving the city at high speed.

CNN saw thousands of troops driving out of the city, as well as thousands of civilians traveling by convoy from Gori toward Tbilisi.

Gori lies along Georgia’s main east-west highway, and is an important site for Georgia’s communication systems.

Russian troops were also in Senaki, in western Georgia, having advanced from Abkhazia, Russian and Georgian officials said.

Russia’s Interfax news agency cited an official with the Russian Defense Ministry saying troops were in Senaki to prevent attacks by Georgian military units against South Ossetia. Senaki is home to a Georgian military base.

Georgia’s interior ministry said Russia had also seized control of Zugdidi — a city on the route between Abkhazia and Senaki.

Georgia launched a crackdown Thursday against separatist fighters in South Ossetia. Russia, which supports the separatists and has peacekeepers in the region, sent its military into South Ossetia on Friday.

The Georgian government said it was recalling the army to Tbilisi to defend the capital. Watch a report from Gori as Georgian troops pull out

Russia has not threatened to enter Tbilisi and says its operations are peacekeeping but Georgia fears it’s an invasion.

Monday’s military developments came as Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili said he had signed an internationally-brokered cease-fire proposal that will be taken next to Moscow.

Saakashvili said the cease-fire proposal would be taken to Moscow by the French Minister Bernard Kouchner and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb.

They were to make their way to Moscow on Monday evening after meeting with Georgian officials. Watch as Saakashvilli signs the cease-fire proposal

A Georgian National Security Council official said the document signed by Saakashvili called for an unconditional cease-fire, a non-use of force agreement, a withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgian territory, including the South Ossetia region, and provisions for international peacekeeping and mediation.

Saakashvili said: We are trying to stop this as soon as possible.

We are in the process of invasion, occupation, and annihilation of an independent, democratic country, he said.

Saakashvili abruptly ended his conference call with reporters Monday saying: We have to go to the shelter because there are Russian planes flying over the presidential palace here, sorry.

Video showed a chaotic scene outside the palace, with the president being rushed away under heavy security. Watch Georgia’s president run for cover

Saakashvili later accused Russia of ethnic cleansing — a charge the Russians have repeatedly leveled at Georgia, and which both sides deny.

He said Georgian troops had downed 18 or 19 Russian warplanes, killed hundreds of Russian troops and repelled a Russian assault on the Georgian city of Gori, in Georgia near South Ossetia.

Saakashvili claimed Russia had 500 tanks and 25,000 troops inside Georgia. A Russian defense ministry said only four planes had been lost. Watch more on Russian bombing

Russia insists it has no interest in interfering with Georgia’s affairs but wants to protect its peacekeepers and the residents of South Ossetia

Russian Defense Ministry Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn said Georgian troops in South Ossetia but were being driven out.

At the moment, our troops are pushing out, capturing and disarming groups of Georgian law enforcement agencies which have been surrounded in the capital of South Ossetia, Nogovitsyn said.

This is a matter of principle, he said. The 1992 treaty which Georgia signed, among others, clearly defines the limits of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, and is doesn’t have any tasks of invading the Georgian territory.

Russia controls the sky

The skies over the breakaway regions and Georgia belonged to the Russians, he said, as the Georgian air force was not flying.

They had inflicted damage on operational systems, troops and military facilities of Georgia, but Nogovitsyn denied Russian bombers had attacked a civilian radar installation at the Tbilisi International Airport.

A U.S. military official told CNN that Russian attacks on Georgia — including radars and communication systems — have devastated the country’s command and control system to the point where Georgian leaders may not have a clear idea of the situation on the ground.

A Georgian Foreign Ministry statement said several dozen Russian bombers were over Georgia Monday afternoon intensively bombing Tbilisi, Poti, villages in Adjara, and elsewhere.

Overnight, as many as 50 Russian bombers were reported operating simultaneously over Georgia, targeting civilian populations in cities and villages, as well as radio and telecommunications sites, the statement said.

Colonel-General Nogovitsyn repeated an earlier charge that Georgian troops were engaged in genocide against civilians in South Ossetia, which he said he could prove to the media.

During their mop-up operations in South Ossetia, Georgian commandos have thrown hand grenades into the basements where civilians were hiding, he said. That’s what we call genocide.

South Ossetia’s capital, Tskhinvali, lay in smoldering ruins after four days of fighting. Each side accused the other of killing large numbers of civilians. Russia said at least 2,000 people had been killed in Tskhinvali.

Georgia began withdrawing its forces from Tskhinvali early Sunday.

Georgia, a pro-Western ally of the U.S., is intent on asserting its authority over South Ossetia and Abkhazia, both of which have strong Russian-backed separatist movements.

The situation in South Ossetia escalated rapidly from Thursday night, when Georgia said it launched an operation into the region after artillery fire from separatists killed 10 people. It accused Russia of backing the separatists.

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Nadal struggles before opening victory

(CNN) — World number one in waiting Rafael Nadal was given an Olympic wake up call by Italian journeyman Potito Starace before coming through in three sets in Beijing.

The powerful Spaniard swept the final four games to prevail 6-2 3-6 6-2 while arch-rival Roger Federer began his quest for gold with a comfortable 6-4 6-2 win over dangerous Russian Dmitry Tursunov.

The first big shock of the Games came later on Monday as Britain’s Andy Murray crashed out in straight sets to unknown Lu Yen-Hsun of Chinese Taipei, 7-6 6-4.

Sixth seed Murray, a likely opponent for Nadal in the quarterfinals, wasted three set points in the opening set and three more break points at 4-4 in the second set, the Cincinnati Masters winner losing his own service in the next game.

In the women’s event, fourth seed Serena Williams took all four games when her match resumed after an overnight wait to complete a rain-interrupted win over Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-3 6-1.

Like Nadal, Williams was playing her first singles match at the Olympics. She won a gold medal in doubles in 2000 with her sister Venus who also went through later in the day.

Seventh seed Venus, playing her first match since winning Wimbledon for the fifth time, beat Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky 6-3 6-2, showing no sign of the knee injury that sidelined her in recent weeks.

Defending champion Nicolas Massu was also a winner on Monday, opening his bid with a straight sets win over Steve Darcis of Belgium 6-4 7-5. Massu won the gold at Athens in both singles and doubles.

But much of the focus was on Nadal, who has won credit for staying with his teammates in the Olympic village, but who struggled in his morning match.

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Fingertip finish keeps Phelps’ hopes alive

BEIJING, China (AP) — By a fingertip, Michael Phelps is still on course for eight gold medals. He can thank Jason Lezak for getting him number two.

The oldest man on the U.S. swimming team pulled off one of the great comebacks in Olympic history Monday morning, lunging to the wall just ahead of France’s Alain Bernard in a race so fast it actually erased two world records.

Few sporting events live up the hype — this one exceeded it. The 32-year-old Lezak was nearly a body length behind the massive Bernard as they made the final turn, but the American hugged the lane rope, drafting off the Frenchman and stunningly overtaking him on the very last stroke.

Watching on deck, Phelps let out a resounding Yeaaaaaah! and thrust both arms toward the roof of the Water Cube. His quest to break Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals had survived what will likely be its toughest test.

The Americans shattered the world record set by their B team the previous evening in the preliminaries, touching with a time of 3 minutes, 8.24 seconds — nearly 4 full seconds below the 15-hour-old mark of 3:12.23.

I was going nuts, Phelps, who swam the leadoff leg and then became the team’s biggest cheerleader, told NBC. As soon as (Lezak) came off that last wall, I started going crazy. We’re a team. We went in as a team and now we’re exiting as a team — and we’re going out with that gold that we needed to get back.

The Americans won the 400 free relay at seven straight Olympics, but watched the Australians and South Africans take gold at the last two games.

I’ve been on the last two relays where we come up short, Lezak said. To be honest with you I got really tired of losing.

Bernard was the world record holder in the 100, but he lost that mark as well. Australia’s Eamon Sullivan broke the individual record by swimming the leadoff leg in 47.24 — ahead of Bernard’s mark of 47.50.

While the Americans whooped it up on deck, Bernard clung to the wall, his head down. The swimmer who had talked confidently of beating the Americans was the last one to leave the pool.

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Zimbabwe rivals’ power-share talks to resume Monday

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) — After several hours of power-sharing negotiations, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai adjourned the talks early Monday — apparently without reaching a deal.

The talks were scheduled to resume Monday at 2 p.m. (8 a.m. ET).

We have not finished, Mugabe told reporters after the meeting adjourned. We obviously have sticking points like in any talks, but we look forward to overcome them.

Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change, deferred questions to South African President Thabo Mbeki, who mediated the meeting. Mbeki did not immediately comment on the talks.

Sunday’s face-to-face meeting by Mugabe and Tsvangirai was the first between the two since power-sharing talks began two weeks ago, sources close to the talks said.

On Saturday, sources close to the negotiations said a power-sharing deal was just one or two sticking points away.

They did not specify what the issues dividing the two sides were.

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Violence in 2nd Georgian breakaway territory concerns U.N.

TSKHINVALI, South Ossetia (CNN) — As fighting continued Sunday between Russia and Georgia over the separatist province of South Ossetia, U.N. officials expressed concern about violence in another Russian-backed breakaway territory in Georgia.

Forces of Abkhazia launched air and artillery strikes on Georgian troops Sunday, intending to drive them out of a small part of Abkhazia that the Georgians controlled, The Associated Press reported.

U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Edmond Mulet said Russian personnel and weapons were part of a military buildup in Abkhazia’s capital, Sukhumi. The Georgian government said 4,000 Russian troops have landed in Abkhazia, according to the AP.

Also Sunday, bombing was reported in the Georgian city of Zugdidi, south of the Abkhaz border, causing panic among the civilian population, Mulet said. Information on casualties and who was responsible for the bombing wasn’t available.

The [U.N.] secretary-general is profoundly concerned over mounting tensions in the Abkhaz zone of conflict, said Lynn Pascoe, U.N. undersecretary-general for political affairs, at an emergency meeting of the Security Council in New York.

Abkhaz forces moved to Abkhazia’s border with the rest of Georgia, Mulet said.

The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Zalmay Khalilzad, told the U.N. Security Council that a Russian-backed military operation in Abkhazia was under way.

Khalilzad also addressed Russia’s three-day-old battle with Georgia over South Ossetia, alleging at a Security Council meeting that Russia was trying to overthrow Georgia’s government, a former Soviet republic.

Khalilzad told the Security Council that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili must go.

Khalilzad then asked Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin whether the Russians were seeking regime change in Georgia with the military operation they launched Friday. In response, Churkin objected to the disclosure of a confidential phone call between top diplomats and said that regime change was an American expression. Watch Khalilzad’s allegation, Churkin’s response

The term was one the Bush administration used to describe its goals in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which Russia opposed.

Meanwhile, South Ossetia’s capital, Tskhinvali, lay in smoldering ruins Sunday after three days of fighting between Georgian and Russian forces.

Each side accused the other of killing large numbers of civilians. Russia said at least 2,000 people have been killed in Tskhinvali.

The Russia-Georgia conflict, which started in South Ossetia last week, continued Sunday, though Georgia began withdrawing its forces from Tskhinvali early that morning.

Georgian troops and their tanks lined the road leading from Tskhinvali back to the positions they held before Thursday. Alexander Lomaia, secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council, said the withdrawal was a show of goodwill, aimed at encouraging Russia to accept a cease-fire.

But Russian shells continued to rain on Georgian positions Sunday. Russia insisted Georgia had no plans to stop its military actions, and that its troops were still being shot at Sunday evening.

Moscow also bombed military targets in Tbilisi, with a CNN crew witnessing one strike at a Georgian air base from about 500 yards away.

Alexander Darchiev, spokesman for Russia’s Embassy in Washington, described the attacks as precision strikes against military infrastructure in order to prevent Georgian aircraft and military attack on our peacekeepers.

Also Sunday, Russia said it sank a Georgian missile boat it said was trying to attack Russian ships.

Georgia, a pro-Western ally of the United States, is intent on asserting its authority over South Ossetia and Abkhazia, both of which have strong Russian-backed separatist movements.

The situation in South Ossetia escalated rapidly from Thursday night, when Georgia said it launched an operation into the region after artillery fire from separatists killed 10 people. It accused Russia of backing the separatists.

Speaking to CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, Darchiev called Russia’s actions in South Ossetia a peace enforcement.

We want to force the Georgian leadership to peace, and what we see right now on the ground is that Georgian troops not withdrawing but regrouping, including heavy armor and increased attacks on Tskhinvali, Darchiev said. Mass mobilization is still under way.

But Saakashvili, Georgia’s president, told CNN that his country has no interest whatsoever in pursuing hostilities. He called on the United States and other nations to stop the intervention and invasion of my sovereign country.

Bush: U.S. is working for a ceasefire

U.S. President George Bush on Sunday condemned the violence between Russia and Georgia.

My administration has been engaged with both sides of this trying to get a ceasefire, Bush told NBC’s Bob Costas in an interview in Beijing, China, where the president has attended Olympic events.

Vice President Dick Cheney spoke to Saakashvili about the fighting and praised him for his government’s restraint, offers of cease-fire, and disengagement of Georgian forces from the zone of conflict in the South Ossetian region of the country, according to the vice president’s office.

The vice president told President Saakashvili that Russian aggression must not go unanswered, and that its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States, as well as the broader international community, Lea Anne McBride, press secretary to Cheney, said in a statement.

Georgia begins taking troops out of Iraq

Some of Georgia’s 2,000 troops who have been in Iraq returned to Georgia’s capital Sunday, Georgian and U.S. officials said.

Georgia asked the United States for an airlift to carry home its troops, which had been stationed near the Iranian border in Iraq. In Baghdad, a U.S. military spokesman confirmed those flights were under way Sunday.

South Ossetia, which has a population of about 70,000, is inside Georgia but has an autonomous government. Many South Ossetians support unification with North Ossetia, which would make them part of Russia.

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