Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) — The Russian Defense Ministry said an explosion in separatist South Ossetia that killed seven Russian military personnel, including a senior officer, was intended to break a cease-fire with Georgia.
The ministry “regards this event as a carefully planned terrorist attack aimed at breaking off the fulfillment of all sides’ obligations under the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan,” according to a statement posted on its Web site late yesterday. South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity blamed Georgia for the blast.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency, brokered the cease-fire that ended a five-day war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia in August. On Sept. 8, Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed on a timetable for the withdrawal of Russian troops from buffer zones that extend into Georgia from South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia.
Read moreRussia Says Deadly Ossetia Blast Aimed to Undermine Cease-Fire