Report: Georgia Triggered War With Russia - WSJ.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125431087432152321.html
BRUSSELS--A nine-month European Union investigation into the 2008 war in the Caucasus has concluded that Georgia triggered the conflict, but that Russia prepared the ground for war to break out and broke international law by invading Georgia as a whole.

Conclusions to the roughly 1,000 page report, released on Wednesday by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini, also found that Russia-backed South Ossetian militias committed atrocities and "ethnic cleansing" of Georgian villages during and since the war. It faulted Russian forces in control of the territory that either "would not or could not" control the South Ossetians.

The report found no evidence to back Russian claims that Georgia committed genocide on the night of Aug.7-8.

The conflict, which briefly brought the United States and Russia into Cold War-style confrontation, left some 850 people dead, 35,000 permanently displaced and Europe's security infrastructure severely weakened. Russian forces remain in occupation of the two territories, while Moscow has recognized them as independent states.