EU report concludes Georgia, Russia share blame for 2008 war

But the independent report commissioned by the EU also blames Russia for provoking the conflict and escalating the fighting beyond “the reasonable limits.’’

“There is no way to assign overall responsibility for the conflict to one side alone,’’ the report concludes.

Months of investigation appear to have done little to change the generally accepted account of events or to have ended a public relations battle over which side was justified. Both Russia and Georgia said the report backed up their own narratives of the conflict.

The Kremlin was quick to hail the finding that Georgia’s attack “marked the beginning’’ of the war. “We can only welcome this conclusion,’’ a Kremlin spokeswoman said.

The Georgian government said the EU investigation concluded “that Russia invaded Georgia; Georgia never attacked Russia or any other country.’’

“The report confirms that Russia committed an act of aggression against a sovereign state,’’ according to the report, written by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini.

The bitterly debated question of who started the war has loomed over the region for the past year.

The Georgian government claimed that it had attacked South Ossetia in response to an onslaught of Russian forces. Moscow, which had peacekeepers based in the breakaway republic, insisted that additional troops were sent into South Ossetia and then deep into Georgia to defend against a Georgian operation already under way.

The EU report is couched carefully, saying the Georgian shelling of the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, on Aug. 7, 2008, had started the fighting and could not be justified under international law. But the report also blasts Moscow for tampering in Georgia’s affairs and waging a war that “went far beyond the reasonable limits of defense.’’

“Any explanation of the origins of the conflict cannot focus solely on the artillery attack on Tskhinvali,’’ the report says. “It must take into account years of provocation, mutual accusations, military and political threats, and acts of violence.’’

The war lasted five days. But the war over the war - who was right and who was wrong, who was the victim and who the aggressor - lingers unresolved, feeding distrust between Moscow and the West and deepening tensions over geopolitical identity in the former Soviet Union.

“It’s 100 percent important who started the war. It’s the main issue of every war,’’ said Sergei Markov, a Russian lawmaker seen as close to the Kremlin

But other observers took a more nuanced stand.

“The problem is, the war was not a five-day war,’’ said Andrei Piontkovsky, executive director of Moscow’s Strategic Studies Center. “It did not begin on Aug. 7 and it did not end on Aug. 12.’’

The most commonly accepted version of events has varied little since the war erupted: Russia meddled for years, supporting separatists in South Ossetia and Georgia’s other breakaway republic, Abkhazia; distributing passports and pension payments to residents of the rebel regions; and using the separatists as a countermove to American support for Georgia and for the independence of Kosovo.

The EU report does not confirm Georgian claims of a massive Russian troop influx before the Georgian attack. However, it does give weight to reports that Russia had been arming and training separatists and had allowed mercenaries to cross into Georgia in the days before the war. The report also notes that extra Russian soldiers were on hand in South Ossetia at the outbreak of the war, and that Russian bombardment began earlier than Moscow claimed.

Russia is also criticized for its claims that Georgia was carrying out a genocide against South Ossetians, for failing to honor Georgia’s cease-fire, and for failing to stop South Ossetian militiamen from looting, burning, and raping their way through ethnic Georgian villages.

The report says Russia seriously escalated the conflict. Russian tanks plunged far into Georgia, slicing the country in two and stopping just 30 miles short of the capital. Some 850 people were killed in the war, which crushed Georgia’s military.