Parliament of Georgia extends martial law till September 8

At today's extraordinary sitting, the Parliament of Georgia has supported the proposal of President Mikhail Saakashvili to extend the martial law in the country from August 24 till September 8. The parliamentarians have unanimously adopted this decision.

The initial decree to introduce the martial law in Georgia for the period of 15 days was signed by the head of the state on August 9; on the same day it was approved by the Parliament, the ITAR-TASS reports.

In his turn, General-Colonel Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff of Russian Armed Forces, has stated that Tbilisi gets ready to new warfare and provocations in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone.

"Military units concentrate in the central part of the country and hold preparation for further actions. With the aim to prepare an armed operation in the conflict zone, employees of Georgian special agencies are setting up hiding-places with stocks of weapons, including those intended for sabotage operations in the territory of South Ossetia and adjacent regions," Mr Nogovitsyn said today in the press conference in Moscow.

"The potential of Georgian armed forces is restored only for a repeated aggression. Nobody in this region makes a threat for Georgia. However, in their aspiration to solve the territorial problem by all means, they've actually declared about preparation for the third conflict - two seem little for them," the RIA "Novosti" quotes Anatoly Nogovitsyn as saying.

Besides, as he said, the NATO is strengthening its grouping in the Black Sea. "Yesterday, the Bosporus was crossed by a Polish frigate and an American destroyer; the NATO is strengthening its grouping," he added.

Earlier, two ships of the US Naval Forces (a headquarters ship and a guided missile destroyer) and a coastal guard ship had crossed the Black Sea straits and entered the open waters.