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"The Russians are looting everything in sight. The whole city is full of marauders," said Roland Bochiashvili as he left Gori.
Russian Troops Push Deeper Into Georgia
By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV
August 13, 2008 8:27 a.m.
GORI, Georgia -- Just hours after Russia agreed to a French-brokered cease-fire, Russian troops followed by irregular Ossetian militias pushed deep into Georgia, seizing the strategic city of Gori and deploying armored vehicles on the nation's main highway that leads to capital city Tbilisi.
A column of Russian military vehicles headed out of Gori on the main road toward Tbilisi, though it was not possible to determine how far they were going. The last Georgian police checkpoint fell back towards the capital, while a column of Georgian troops in sports-utility vehicles headed towards the Russian troops.
Georgian officials said the Russian troops had destroyed an artillery and tank based just outside Gori. They also said ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia were being emptied by Russian forces. That account was confirmed by refugees fleeing toward Tbilisi, who said irregulars were clearing the houses and burning them. One refugee from the village of Karaleti said he had seen three people killed.
Thick black plumes of smoke rose from Gori as panicked residents -- including the doctors and patients of the local hospital -- fled to Tbilisi in packed cars and minivans. Most locals had already abandoned Gori after it was heavily bombarded by Russian forces on Tuesday, just before Presidents Dmitry Medvedev of Russia and Nicholas Sarkozy of France announced a provisional cease-fire.
Eyewitnesses and fleeing residents said that with Russian tanks securing Gori, Ossetian militias and Russian cossacks began pillaging stores and homes. Some Georgians attempting to escape said they were told by irregulars to abandon their cars and valuables at gunpoint, and forced to walk toward Tbilisi. At least one vehicle of Western journalists was also seized at gunpoint by Russian-allied irregulars.
"The Russians are looting everything in sight. The whole city is full of marauders," said Roland Bochiashvili as he left Gori.
Russia immediately denied the report of tanks, but did say that some Russian soldiers went into the Georgian city of Gori. Russia's deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said Wednesday that no tanks were in Gori. He said Russians went into the city to try to implement the truce with local Georgian officials but could not find any. An APTN television crew in Gori saw some Russian armored vehicles Wednesday morning near a military base there.
The Russian army itself is taking no part in the looting, said Georgian National Guard Lieutenant Guja Bichashvili, who fled the city after donning civilian clothes. "It is the [Russian] cossacks and the Ossetians that are causing mayhem. The local population is actually relieved to see regular Russian troops in Gori, hoping that the soldiers will protect them from the marauders," he said.
Georgia's most senior government official on the outskirts of Gori, deputy national reintegration minister Yelena Tevdoradze said that Russia's move into the city blatantly violates the cease-fire.
"The Russians promise one thing and then do the exact opposite," she said. "There are atrocities going on there. The looters go house to house and set everything on fire."
She said there are no Georgian troops or police left in Gori, the birthplace of former Soviet ruler Iosif Stalin, but that Georgian officials receives mobile-phone updates from some residents still in the city.
As Ms. Tevdoradze spoke on the roadside, she was mobbed by angry refugees. "Where is our government? Where is our army? Who in the world is going to help us?" wailed one distraught woman. "Nobody cares."
No Georgian military presence was visible on the highway from Tbilisi to Gori, littered with burned-out hulks of Georgian tanks and APCs that had been destroyed by Russian bombing over the weekend. Only rare bursts of gunfire could be heard at the entrance to Gori, and the Russians seem to have captured the city largely unopposed.
Gori is only about one hour's driving from Tbilisi.
Meanwhile in Brussels, France said on Wednesday it is seeking support from its European Union partners for the deployment of European peacekeeping monitors to help defuse the Russia-Georgia confrontation. But French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says they could only be deployed with the consent of both Russia and Georgia.
Mr. Kouchner spoke before chairing a meeting Wednesday of EU foreign ministers. He avoided the word "peacekeepers" and spoke of "controllers, monitors, facilitators," instead. The EU ministers discussed Western Europe's role in resolving the Russia-Georgia standoff.
Tensions between Russia and Georgia have been building since the late 1980s, as Tbilisi began to push for independence from the then-Soviet Union. Georgia became free in 1991 but several enclaves, including Abkhazia and South Ossetia, wanted to secede and broke away from Georgia after bloody conflicts which were supported by Russian military and volunteers. More recently, Russia has handed out passports to many residents.
Mr. Saakashvili, who came to power in the pro-democracy Rose revolution of 2003, became a vocal irritant for the Kremlin, strengthening ties with the U.S. and challenging Russia's monopoly on the transport of oil and gas from the Caspian Sea region.
Фоторяд - http://www.wsj.com/article/SB121855144608033481.html
(c)WSJ
Russian Troops Push Deeper Into Georgia
By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV
August 13, 2008 8:27 a.m.
GORI, Georgia -- Just hours after Russia agreed to a French-brokered cease-fire, Russian troops followed by irregular Ossetian militias pushed deep into Georgia, seizing the strategic city of Gori and deploying armored vehicles on the nation's main highway that leads to capital city Tbilisi.
A column of Russian military vehicles headed out of Gori on the main road toward Tbilisi, though it was not possible to determine how far they were going. The last Georgian police checkpoint fell back towards the capital, while a column of Georgian troops in sports-utility vehicles headed towards the Russian troops.
Georgian officials said the Russian troops had destroyed an artillery and tank based just outside Gori. They also said ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia were being emptied by Russian forces. That account was confirmed by refugees fleeing toward Tbilisi, who said irregulars were clearing the houses and burning them. One refugee from the village of Karaleti said he had seen three people killed.
Thick black plumes of smoke rose from Gori as panicked residents -- including the doctors and patients of the local hospital -- fled to Tbilisi in packed cars and minivans. Most locals had already abandoned Gori after it was heavily bombarded by Russian forces on Tuesday, just before Presidents Dmitry Medvedev of Russia and Nicholas Sarkozy of France announced a provisional cease-fire.
Eyewitnesses and fleeing residents said that with Russian tanks securing Gori, Ossetian militias and Russian cossacks began pillaging stores and homes. Some Georgians attempting to escape said they were told by irregulars to abandon their cars and valuables at gunpoint, and forced to walk toward Tbilisi. At least one vehicle of Western journalists was also seized at gunpoint by Russian-allied irregulars.
"The Russians are looting everything in sight. The whole city is full of marauders," said Roland Bochiashvili as he left Gori.
Russia immediately denied the report of tanks, but did say that some Russian soldiers went into the Georgian city of Gori. Russia's deputy chief of General Staff Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said Wednesday that no tanks were in Gori. He said Russians went into the city to try to implement the truce with local Georgian officials but could not find any. An APTN television crew in Gori saw some Russian armored vehicles Wednesday morning near a military base there.
The Russian army itself is taking no part in the looting, said Georgian National Guard Lieutenant Guja Bichashvili, who fled the city after donning civilian clothes. "It is the [Russian] cossacks and the Ossetians that are causing mayhem. The local population is actually relieved to see regular Russian troops in Gori, hoping that the soldiers will protect them from the marauders," he said.
Georgia's most senior government official on the outskirts of Gori, deputy national reintegration minister Yelena Tevdoradze said that Russia's move into the city blatantly violates the cease-fire.
"The Russians promise one thing and then do the exact opposite," she said. "There are atrocities going on there. The looters go house to house and set everything on fire."
She said there are no Georgian troops or police left in Gori, the birthplace of former Soviet ruler Iosif Stalin, but that Georgian officials receives mobile-phone updates from some residents still in the city.
As Ms. Tevdoradze spoke on the roadside, she was mobbed by angry refugees. "Where is our government? Where is our army? Who in the world is going to help us?" wailed one distraught woman. "Nobody cares."
No Georgian military presence was visible on the highway from Tbilisi to Gori, littered with burned-out hulks of Georgian tanks and APCs that had been destroyed by Russian bombing over the weekend. Only rare bursts of gunfire could be heard at the entrance to Gori, and the Russians seem to have captured the city largely unopposed.
Gori is only about one hour's driving from Tbilisi.
Meanwhile in Brussels, France said on Wednesday it is seeking support from its European Union partners for the deployment of European peacekeeping monitors to help defuse the Russia-Georgia confrontation. But French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says they could only be deployed with the consent of both Russia and Georgia.
Mr. Kouchner spoke before chairing a meeting Wednesday of EU foreign ministers. He avoided the word "peacekeepers" and spoke of "controllers, monitors, facilitators," instead. The EU ministers discussed Western Europe's role in resolving the Russia-Georgia standoff.
Tensions between Russia and Georgia have been building since the late 1980s, as Tbilisi began to push for independence from the then-Soviet Union. Georgia became free in 1991 but several enclaves, including Abkhazia and South Ossetia, wanted to secede and broke away from Georgia after bloody conflicts which were supported by Russian military and volunteers. More recently, Russia has handed out passports to many residents.
Mr. Saakashvili, who came to power in the pro-democracy Rose revolution of 2003, became a vocal irritant for the Kremlin, strengthening ties with the U.S. and challenging Russia's monopoly on the transport of oil and gas from the Caspian Sea region.
Фоторяд - http://www.wsj.com/article/SB121855144608033481.html
(c)WSJ