WASHINGTON, DC (RUSHPRNEWS) AUGUST 25, 2008–Nongovernmental groups say it will take weeks to determine who died and how in the fighting between Georgia and Russia. While looting was reported widespread and detentions occurred, fewer civilians died than was originally claimed by officials on both sides of the fighting, The Washington Post reported Monday.

What isn’t disputed is that tens of thousands of people fled their homes in Gori and South Ossetia, the Post reported, noting more than 500 public buildings in Tbilisi serve as refugee centers.

 

This month’s war sparked the most severe conflict in the Kremlin’s relations with Europe and the United States since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Initially, Russia accused Georgia of killing as many as 2,000 Ossetians but later reported 133 Ossetians dead and 64 Russian soldiers killed, while Georgia reports 400 Georgians killed, half of them soldiers with 150 to 160 soldiers missing, the Post reported. (c) UPI

NEWS SOURCE: POST CHRONICLE.COM