Historical tensions and overreaction on the part of both Russia and Georgia contributed to a five-day conflict between the two in 2008, a European Union fact-finding mission concluded in a report released Wednesday.
South Ossetian mourners at the grave of a relative killed in the conflict on the first anniversary in August 2009.
"The conflict is rooted in a profusion of causes comprising different layers in time and actions combined," said the report from the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia.
"While it is possible to identify the authorship of some important events and decisions marking its course, there is no way to assign overall responsibility for the conflict to one side alone. They have all failed, and it should be their responsibility to make good for it."read more
