The war in August 2008. On the eve of invasion...
By the beginning of August the situation in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict become strained down to the limit. The constant provocations by the Georgian side, shelling the settlements of South Ossetia, forced security forces of the Republic to begin more active strengthening of their positions.
These activities, according to the then Interior Minister Mikhail Mindzaev, were necessary due to the fact that Georgia had increased the number of its armed forces, military equipment, and, breaking previous agreements, was building fortifications near the border of South Ossetia.
July 31, 2008, the Interior Minister of South Ossetia reiterated that the Georgian authorities aimed at further destabilizing the situation in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict.
On the same day were published the results of a poll to learn the views of residents of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone on the negotiations, the peacekeeping forces, etc.
According to the results, the vast majority of the population of the Republic, feeling the threat from the southern neighbors, supported the decision to strengthen the Russian peacekeeping contingent of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict.
The residents of the Republic, engaged in agricultural work, were also suffering from the actions of the Georgian side. The Georgian side, in the midst of the harvest season, prevented to carry out agricultural works in Znaur district. July 31 Georgian police at the illegal checkpoint in the village of Avnevi did not let pass the harvesters being sent to Znaur district, without explaining the reason, referring to the order of the authorities of the Georgian city of Gori.
It was also disrupted the previously scheduled for this day monitoring to clarify the situation with water supply of Tskhinval. The Georgian side required to begin monitoring from the initial point of the water passage Edis-Tskhinval in the village of Edis.
In this case, it was just about the illegal branch lines in the Georgian villages Tamarasheni-Kekhvi, which were temporarily beyond the control of the authorities of South Ossetia, and to remove the illegal branch lines, the monitoring in the village of Edis was not necessary.
At that time, for more than a month Tskhinval was completely left without drinking water.