Almost a year ago, the Russian peacemakers in South Ossetia had no idea that Georgia would attack them, crushing their blockhouses with armor. Much water has flown under the bridges since then. According to the treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance, the military located at the borders of the recognized republic are currently helping to protect its boundaries. The Ossetians still keep celebrating The Peacemaker's Day in commemoration of the Russian soldiers who brought peace here in 1992 and who gave their lives for peace in 2008.

Before Presidents of Russia and Georgia Boris Yeltsin and Eduard Shevardnadze concluded the Dagomys agreement on principles of the conflict settlement and brought peacemakers into the region in 1992, South Ossetia had survived two aggressions of the Georgian army.

The first one, held under the leadership of the independent Georgia's first President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, ended with a civil war. Tskhinval was captured. Dozens of thousands of the citizens were turned into refugees; others became militia men. The Ossetian self-defense troops forced out the Georgian military units. In return, the official Tbilisi established blockade of South Ossetia. The energy supply was shut off, which made the people victims to the cold. The roads that provided foodstuffs carriage to Tskhinval were blocked. There were occasional attacks at the Ossetian refugees' columns as it happened during the tragedy near the village of Zar. From time to time, the Georgian army laid down fire upon Tskhinval from the nearest high points.

At the end of 1991, Eduard Shevardnadze came to power in Georgia. He made up his mind to repeat the heroic act of his predecessor and was going to capture the capital of the self-announced republic by force. However, being pressed by the Russian government, Shevardnadze made certain concessions and started negotiations on peaceful settlement.

In June, 1992, the Dagomys agreement was signed. On July 14, 1992 the fire was ceased, and the Joint Peace Maintenance Forces (JPMF) entered the region in three battalions, the Russian, the Georgian and the South-Ossetian, each one of about 500 servicemen. This day became a holiday in South Ossetia and is still celebrated today.

According to the Dagomys agreement, the peacemakers have been protecting the fragile peace in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict for 16 years, providing warranty of non-renewal of the military actions, as the web-site of the Ministry of Press and Information of South Ossetia reports. Still, since 2004, when Saakashvili came to power, the official Tbilisi started a campaign on discrediting the Russian peacemakers. They were accused of having concealed Ossetian weapons, of rotations performed outside the legal checkpoint via the Rokski tunnel, of enhancing the military commitment, creating obstacles for the OSCE observers, of their incapability to prevent firing at the Georgian villages at the border with South Ossetia and etc. The peaceful commitment was referred to not as a neutral force but as a force that had got its own interest; the fact was stressed that Russia was supporting Eduard Kokoity's regime in the terms of economy, issuing Russian passports for the local residents.

Several times the Georgian parliament took a decision to withdraw the Russian peacemaking forces from the conflict regions. However, Georgia could terminate the multilateral agreement on locating the peacemakers in Abkhazia, which had been concluded under the aegis of Georgia, only in case it withdrew from the Commonwealth. But Georgian was not ready to do that. The peacemakers were located in South Ossetia according to a bilateral agreement signed at the presidential level, so it was impossible to settle the issue of their withdrawal without the Russian government's approval.

A year ago, the peacemakers seemed to be a restraining factor in the South-Ossetian region. However, the escalation of the conflict was felt due to the shooting at the near-border villages in both directions, the flights of the Georgian scout planes and the large amount of military hardware on the Georgian side.

In return, the peacemakers opened new blockhouses and monitored the territory of South Ossetia from the planes. The Georgian ambassador was withdrawn from Moscow, and President Sergey Bagapsh started off to Russian from Abkhazia. Tbilisi announced the Kremlin to be preparing for a war. The Russian government pointed at the rate of the armament and preparation of the Georgian army, as well as at its re-dislocation to the conflict zone.

On July, 14, 2008, the Utro.ru portal noted that the war was inexpedient for both the sides. Russia could not initiate any military actions on account of the problems in its relationship with the West. "All that Moscow wants from Tbilisi today is its giving up the attempts to bring back Abkhazia and South Ossetia by force and its future abandonment of the desire to join NATO", the portal reported; these aims could be achieved without a war. As to Tbilisi, by that moment it had been desperately trying to settle the problem of bringing back the "separative regions" in a peaceful way. However, Mikhail Saakashvili had no hope for a military victory in case the South-Ossetian troops were supported by the Russian army. Could he really believe that Russia would give up its servicemen?

However, it is no longer important what the Georgian leader was thinking about on the 8th of August last year, for now the people are witnessing the consequences of his actions. In fact, the war in South Ossetia started with a night attack at the Russian peacemaking units, as the web-site of the Public Committee for Investigating Military Crimes in South Ossetia reports. Their mandate allowed them to use only small arms and light armor. This was enough to maintain the order in the separating zone and ensure the security of peaceful citizens; but the Russian military commitment was attacked by air forces, armor, heavy artillery and the Grad valley fire system.

This was an unprecedented case in the history of peacemaking. The Georgian soldiers had left the place of the peacemakers' permanent dislocation well in advance and took the side of the Georgian army. 10 of the Russian boys died under fire and bombing. Those who survived told about the Georgian planes having attacked the peacemakers' location; they described the crash of grenade throwers, the burst of shells, the shells fragments killing and wounding the soldiers that had come to this land with peace.

As soon as the independence of South Ossetia was recognized, a Treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance and an Agreement on joint efforts on the state border protection were concluded with Russia. The 4th Russian military base was formed in the republic and is currently being developed. The day before, during his visit to South Ossetia, President of Russia Dmitri Midvedev pointed out that both the countries are "to maintain cooperation in the sphere of defense, as well as the relevant treaties". Today, three thousand seven hundred Russian soldiers dislocated in Java and Tskhinval together with all the necessary military equipment are providing security of South Ossetia.