[text: Stratfor; photo: AFP]

  • 11:17 a.m.: Abkhazia says the Georgian troops in the Kodori Gorge are surrounded, Interfax reports.
  • 10:33 a.m.: The Georgian leadership has no information indicating that Russian troops will try to take Tbilisi, Interfax reports.
  • 10:25 a.m.: The Georgian Defense Ministry has said that Russian troops are approaching Tbilisi, Interfax reports.
  • 10:19 a.m.: All employees of the Ukrainian Embassy in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi are being evacuated, Interfax reports.
  • 10:10 a.m.: Georgian military commanders do not have a clear picture of what is going on in the current conflict because Russia destroyed Georgia’s radars and military communication facilities, RIA Novosti reports. Representatives of the Georgian government have said the country’s media are issuing contradictory reports, especially on Russian troop movements.
  • 10:10 a.m.: Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told the Council of National Security that Georgian tanks are headed to the city of Gori, RIA Novosti reports.
  • 9:46 a.m.: Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili is awaiting the arrival of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Polish President Lech Kaczynski, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Estonian President Hendrik Ilves, Interfax reports. In the morning of Aug. 12, before their arrival, Saakashvili will hold an emergency meeting of parliament. The meeting will be at an undisclosed location but will be partially televised for the nation to see.

9 a.m.

  • 8:03 a.m.: Interfax reports that South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity warned the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili is trying to use them to “continue his aggressive policy.”
  • 6:24 a.m.: South Ossetia’s State Committee of Information and Press reports that though some minor shelling is coming from outside of South Ossetia, the country is considered “clean” of Georgians, South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity said.
  • 6 a.m.: The Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia launches a military operation to force Georgian troops out of the Kodori Gorge, according to Interfax.

6 a.m.

  • 5:53 a.m.: The government of the secessionist Georgian region of Abkhazia plans to push Georgian forces from the Kodori Gorge in a few days, Interfax reports.

3 a.m.

  • 1:37 a.m. U.S. President George W. Bush, calling Russia’s action against Georgia unacceptable and an invasion of a sovereign state, says that “there is evidence that Russian forces may soon begin bombing the civilian airport in the capital city” of Tbilisi, Reuters reports. Bush says that if Russia does bomb Tbilisi’s airport, it would “represent a dramatic and brutal escalation of the conflict in Georgia.”
  • 1:24 a.m. U.S. President George W. Bush, in a live television broadcast, says that it is time for Russia to end the crisis in Georgia.
  • 1:06 a.m.: Georgia National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaya said Aug. 12 in a briefing that there is no fighting currently taking place on Georgian Territory, Interfax reported.
  • 12: 52 a.m.: Russian peacekeeping units have not taken the Georgian port city of Poti, a Defense Ministry representative said Aug. 11, RIA Novosti reported.
  • 12:40 a.m. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili appeals to the people of Georgia to come to the Georgian parliament in Tbilisi to demonstrate the unity of the nation, RIA Novosti reports.
  • 12:33 a.m.: Russia will send $200 million in urgent aid to South Ossetia to address a growing humanitarian disaster in the Georgian breakaway province, RIA Novosti reports, citing Russia’s envoy to NATO.
  • 12:31 a.m. Georgian Prime Minister Vladimir Gurgenidze says Russian troops have entered the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti, Gazeta reports.
  • 11:53 p.m. The presidents of Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Estonia and Latvia are expected to travel to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, Interfax reports.
  • 11:27 p.m. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reportedly tells a Ukrainian official that Russia Black Sea Fleet ships were off the coast of Abkhazia to protect Russians and support the peacekeepers, RIA Novosti reported Aug. 11. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stated that it reserves the right to not allow the Russian Black Sea Fleet ships back into the Sevastopol naval base. The Black Sea Fleet ships are now off the coast of Georgia, and Kiev does not want to be involved in military conflicts, the Ukrainian official said.