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Georgian PM fires defense, foreign ministers

  • Story Highlights
  • Spokesperson: Dismissals part of a reshuffling of the Cabinet
  • EU: Has launched inquiry into the August war between Georgia and Russia
  • Both sides blame each other for starting the conflict
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(CNN) -- Georgian Prime Minister Grigol Mgaloblishvili has dismissed the country's defense minister and foreign affairs minister.

Nato Chikovani, a spokeswoman for the Georgian Foreign Ministry, said Friday the dismissals were part of a reshuffling of the Cabinet. "We are facing new challenges, and there should be new people to meet them," she quoted Mgaloblishvili as saying.

Meanwhile, the European Union announced this week that it had launched an inquiry into the August war between Georgia and Russia.

The eight-month fact-finding mission will examine the facts of the conflict in regard to international law, humanitarian issues and human rights, an EU spokeswoman said.

Georgia launched a military campaign against South Ossetia, a Russian-backed separatist territory in Georgia, on August 7.

The following day, Russian tanks, troops and armored vehicles poured into South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian territory, Abkhazia, and advanced into Georgian cities outside the rebel regions.

The two sides blamed each other for starting the conflict and made accusations of ethnic cleansing.

-- CNN's Maxim Tkachenko contributed to this report.

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