1. South Ossetian activist, Lira Tskhovrebova, during interview 2. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Lira Tskhovrebova, South Ossetia Activist: "They carried out war crimes, in my country." FOLLOWED BY UPSOUND OF ENGLISH TRANSLATION INCLUDING THE FIRST PART OF THE SOUNDBITE, WHICH IS NOT IN THE EDIT: "What changed was that Georgia committed on August 7th, 8th and 9th, Georgia committed war crimes in my country." 3. Mid of "Help Ossetia" web page 4. SOUNDBITE: (Russian with English Translation) Lira Tskhovrebova, South Ossetia Activist: "Ruins. The town stopped existing." (jump cut) "My intentions for peace building remain." FOLLOWED BY UPSOUND OF ENGLISH TRANSLATION INCLUDING THE FIRST PART OF THE SOUNDBITE, WHICH IS NOT IN THE EDIT: "It changed my views, it changed my opinions but the peace building remained. My intentions for peace building remained." 5. Mid of Tskhovrebova ++REPEAT of SHOT 1++ 6. SOUNDBITE: (Russian with English Translation) Lira Tskhovrebova, South Ossetia Activist: "Of course they are independent." 7. Mid of "Truth for Ossetia" web page 8. Close of Tskhovrebova as she listens to tape of telephone conversation in Russian purported to be with Vasily Guliev, deputy director for counterintelligence for the South Ossetian security agency 9. SOUNDBITE: (Russian with English Translation) Lira Tskhovrebova, South Ossetia Activist: (Question: "The Georgians believe you were working with the South Ossetian KGB. Is that true?") "With the same success they may say that I am a ballet dancer at the Bolshoi Theatre." 10. Mid of Tskhovrebova looking at transcripts, UPSOUND of AP reporter, Desmond O. Butler: (English) "I'm not trying to play gotcha. It's just...", UPSOUND of Public Relations handler for Tskhovrebova, Mark Saylor: (English) "You clearly are trying to play gotcha and you just played gotcha." 11. Saylor walking onto interview set and speaking to Tskhovrebova, UPSOUND: (English) "Lira, we'll sit down and look at this." UPSOUND of Tskhovrebova: (Russian) "No, this is very interesting to me, can I have a look at it?" 12. End shot of interview, Tskhovrebova leaving STORYLINE Lira Tskhovrebova flew nearly 6,000 miles (10,000 kilometres) to Washington on a mission: The self described independent activist from South Ossetia wanted to challenge the strong US support for Georgia in its war with Russia over the breakaway region and describe atrocities by Georgian troops. Backed by an expensive public relations firm, Tskhovrebova lined up meetings with US officials, including staff for Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of a panel overseeing foreign aid. The US government itself paid for an academic event where she plans to speak this week. What Americans meeting with Tskhovrebova did not know is that she has ties to South Ossetia's KGB security service. Georgia says she's a spy. Tskhovrebova ridicules the idea and says she is the victim of a smear campaign. But US officials have become wary of her, questioning who paid for her Washington tour. Tskhovrebova's trip reflects the high-stakes campaign between Georgia and Russia, each eager to blame the other for their August war and to influence US policy as US president-elect Barack Obama assumes the presidency. Georgian intelligence provided The Associated Press with secretly recorded conversations in which Tskhovrebova appears to discuss assignments, money and information with Vasily Guliev, deputy director for counterintelligence for the South Ossetian security agency still known by the Soviet-era acronym KGB. "I don't have any money left. Yesterday I learned super ... not super ... but very important information completely by chance," she told Guliev during a call in June 2005, according to the recordings. Guliev quickly agreed to meet with her privately. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/3540de14f7e107add95551bff80d8afb Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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