Georgia commemorates Russia war anniversary

Tbilisi called for unity to overcome its political differences. The five-day war erupted in 2008 when Georgian troops tried unsuccessfully to regain control over the Moscow-backed breakaway province of South Ossetia.

Tbilisi: Georgia on Wednesday commemorated the 11th anniversary of its 2008 war with Russia. Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze laid flowers at the cemetery for soldiers killed in the five-day war.

He said that Georgia must overcome its political differences.

The war erupted in 2008 when Georgian troops tried unsuccessfully to regain control over the Moscow-backed breakaway province of South Ossetia and Russia sent troops that routed the Georgian military in five days of fighting.

The war ended in an agreement brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy under which both sides were to pull troops back to pre-war positions.

After the war, Georgia entirely lost control of both South Ossetia and another separatist region, Abkhazia.

In June, tensions between both countries flared up again in Tbilisi, during clashes between protesters and police that was sparked by a Russian lawmaker taking the seat of Georgia's parliament speaker during an international meeting of lawmakers in Tbilisi.