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Human Rights Watch today urged Russia to allow the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe access to South Ossetia in a report which documented human rights violations by both Russia and Georgia in last August’s conflict.

The 200-page report says both Russia and Georgia used “indiscriminate and disproportionate force” in some instances during the war, and South Ossetian forces and militia engaged in the “deliberate and systematic destruction” of ethnic Georgian villages.

Russia had refused to approve the OSCE’s mandate in Georgia this year, citing “new political realities” in the region where it has recognised the independence of South Ossetia, although no other country in the 56-member organisation has followed suit.

Anna Neistat, a senior emergencies writer at Human Rights Watch, said Russian attempts to shut international organisations out of South Ossetia backfired during the war, allowing a misrepresentation of facts that fanned the flames of conflict.

“It is incredibly important to set the record straight or further conflicts will erupt in future,” she said.

During the war, Moscow accused Georgia of genocide, saying 2,000 South Ossetians died after it launched an assault on the regional capital Tskhinvali, triggering a fierce Russian counter attack.

But a later, still continuing Russian investigation cited a South Ossetian death toll of 165. Georgia says 229 Georgian civilians died and 169 servicemen were killed.

The 200-page report says both Russia and Georgia used “indiscriminate and disproportionate force” in some instances during the war, and South Ossetian forces and militia engaged in the “deliberate and systematic destruction” of ethnic Georgian villages.

Both sides are accused of using cluster munitions that are banned by an international convention.

Russia “failed overwhelmingly” in its duty as an occupying power to ensure public order and safety in South Ossetia after the war. Even today thousands of ethnic Georgians displaced by the conflict are unable to return home.

Human Rights Watch urged Russia and Georgia to “investigate and hold accountable those from their respective forces responsible for international humanitarian law violations, including war crimes.”

Ms Bakoyianni said a “third eye” was necessary to establish what happened during the war.