Nine years have passed since the Russo-Georgian War of August 2008. Civil.ge uses its archives and other sources to provide a daily recap of the events of the war. We start on August 1, 2008, amid the final stage of pre-war escalation, and will continue up to the occupation of Akhalgori Municipality by the Russian troops on August 16.

August 15

• Russian-backed Tskhinvali leader Eduard Kokoity says that Tskhinvali militias have “demolished everything” in the ethnic Georgian areas of Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia, and that they were not going to let ethnic Georgian civilians back to their villages.
    
• Tskhinvali “parliament chairman” Znaur Gassiev tells Russian journalists: “The war won’t start again. We have done a nasty deed, I know. But Georgians will not come back here again – we have burnt all their houses in their enclaves.”
    
• Russian troops continue occupation of Gori, refuse to allow Georgian police into the city.
    
• A journalist is robbed by the Russian-backed Tskhinvali militias in Kareli District, two other journalists are briefly detained by the Russian troops in Poti.
    
• Human Rights Watch confirms that Russia used cluster bombs against populated areas during the war, causing civilian casualties.
    
• Around 15:30 several Russian military helicopters firebomb forests in Borjomi District, causing a huge blaze.
    
• Russian troops loot the Georgian Coast Guard buildings and vessels in Poti.
    
• At 18:30 Russian troops start to move eastward along the main highway. They stop and open a checkpoint near village Igoeti, Kaspi District, about 30 kilometers from Tbilisi.
    
• Around 21:00 Russian troops establish a checkpoint in Khashuri town, west of Gori.
    
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel says there is no change in the position regarding Georgia’s NATO membership.
    
• U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Tbilisi. President Saakashvili criticizes lack of sufficient Western support for Georgia at a joint press conference.