The war in August 2008. On the eve of invasion ...
The population of South Ossetia for more than 20 years of confrontation with Georgia repeatedly faced the economic, humanitarian and psychological blackmail. Every time the official Tbilisi tried to find justification of its sophisticated actions. Another "peace initiative" of the Georgian authorities for "settlement" of relations with South Ossetia was a water blockade of Tskhinval and the districts of the Republic, which began in the spring of 2007 and continued until August 2008.
Residents of the Georgian villages, located to the north of Tskhinval, made it a rule to damage intentionally the main water line Edis-Tskhinval passing through these villages, making illegal branch lines for watering their gardens.
As a result, the residents of South Ossetia, in particular, Tskhinval, were forced to live for months in unbearable conditions, without water. The problem became especially acute in summer. In July, 2008 it was thirty degrees above zero in Tskhinval, and the situation was close to a humanitarian catastrophe.
July 28 at a meeting of the government of the Republic at the then mayor of Tskhinval Robert Guliyev said that the problem of shortage of drinking water in the capital would soon be resolved. He informed that the Georgian side agreed to remove the illegal branch lines in the water passage Edis-Tskhinval that had caused an acute water crisis.
The latest monitoring of the water main, held a few days earlier with the participation of representatives of the Joint Control Commission, the Joint Peacekeeping Forces in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, the OSCE, and the Ossetian and Georgian experts revealed 16 illegal branch lines in the water main, passing through the villages being under the control of the Georgian security structures.
Such actions by the Georgian side caused bewilderment because in 2006, at the solemn ceremony in the village of Kemert had been restored the irrigation system, using the funds allocated by the European Union that, according to the international affairs experts, made it possible to irrigate the lands of residents of the Georgian villages without using drinking water.
But the situation after this has not changed; the number of branch lines was not decreased and the Tskhinval was still without water. At the same time the authorities of Georgia made cynical statements that the South Ossetian leadership intentionally cut off the water supply and shifted the blame on Georgia. However, residents of these villages at gunpoint did not often allow hydraulic technicians to see the damaged water passage. The population of South Ossetia continued to suffer from the intentional and unlawful actions of the southern neighbour.