Top 10 world news events in 2008

6. Russia-Georgia conflict deepens antagonism between Russia and US, Europe

Russian troops leave their sentry post some 20 kilometers from Gori, Georgia, August 22, 2008. Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaya said that Russian troops and tanks had pulled out from the strategically important city of Gori on Friday.

On Aug. 8, Georgia's army launched a sudden offensive on Tskhinvali, capital of its breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russia sent troops to South Ossetia in the name of protecting Russian peacekeeping forces and Russian citizens in the region, resulting in the eruption of a military conflict.

In the backdrop of NATO's eastern expansion and the shrinking of Russia's strategic space, the Russia-Georgia conflict was a significant occasion for Moscow to make known to the United States and Europe its determination to safeguard its own interests. It was also Russia's first military action abroad since the disintegration of the former Soviet Union.

Even after a French-brokered peace plan brought truce to the area, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced his country's recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and the other Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia on Aug. 26.

The five-day conflict elicited strong reactions from the United States, NATO and the European Union (EU) against Russia's military action in Georgia, and further soured their ties with Moscow.