MOSCOW, February 21 (RIA Novosti) - A total of 64
Russian soldiers were killed and 283 wounded in the war with
Georgia in 2008, a deputy Russian defense minister said
Saturday.
General of the Army Nikolai Pankov told Ekho Moskvy radio
that three people are still missing. He said the losses counted
refer to the August 8-24, 2008 period.
The General Staff reported in August that 323 servicemen
had been wounded in South Ossetia.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as
independent states two weeks after the end of a five-day war
with Georgia last August, which began when Georgian forces
attacked South Ossetia in a bid to bring it back under central
control.
Nicaragua has so far been the only other country to
recognize the republics.
Shootings and abductions have been reported along the de
facto border between Georgia and South Ossetia since after the
armed conflict, with both sides blaming each other for
continuing violence.
Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia split from Georgia amid
bloody post-Soviet conflicts. The majority of residents of both
republics have had Russian citizenship for many years.
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