WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States on Wednesday called on Moscow to allow a "credible investigation" into reported atrocities committed in South Ossetia during the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia, a top official said.
"We have seen reports that there are atrocities being committed against civilians," said State Department spokesman Robert Wood.
"We want to call on the Russians to allow credible investigation to take place on reports that atrocities have been committed by all sides," he told a press conference.
Wood did not clarify who should be tasked with the investigation or how it should be carried out.
The spokesman was questioned by reporters about photographs the Georgian Embassy in Washington has distributed to US media showing what the mission claims are South Ossetian security forces involved in "ethnic cleansing."
"Obviously these types of reports are of serious concern and we want to make sure that the international community is able to investigate these charges because we all take them very seriously," Wood said.
The August 8 outbreak of hostilities between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia led to the displacement of some 160,000 people from conflict zones in South Ossetia and other parts of Georgia, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
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