Russia and Georgia wage PR battle for hearts and minds

By Conor Sweeney

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Armed not just with guns but public relations agencies, Russia and Georgia are fighting a propaganda war to shape public opinion at home and abroad with a constant stream of disputed facts about their conflict.

Fighting erupted after Georgia attempted to retake control of South Ossetia, a small pro-Russian separatist province, on Thursday night. Russia poured tanks and troops across its southern border into Georgia to push Tbilisi's troops back.

Both sides are employing Brussels-based public relations specialists who arranged a succession of conference calls for the international media in recent days, with senior government figures striving to put their side of the story across first.

Russia wants to convince the world of its role as an honest broker, reluctantly intervening against an out-of-control Georgian president whose forces have carried out ethnic cleansing against the Ossetian people.

Georgia in turn portrays itself as a plucky little country fighting off the resurgent Russian bear and suffering unfair Kremlin punishment on account of its drive to become a Western democracy and NATO ally.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili quickly sought to convince the world of his struggle in television interviews with global broadcasters, CNN and BBC, saying his country was "at war" with Russia and appealing for Western help.

But the spin hasn't helped clarify the many disputed facts.

Each side has accused the other of causing heavy civilian casualties and wildly varying figures have been issued on deaths and injuries.