Kurt Nicklas
2008-08-14 23:26:20 UTC
Amid promise of peace, Georgians live in terror· Russian militia
accused of orgies of looting and rape
· Fleeing villagers accuse Medvedev of betrayalLuke Harding in Gori
The Guardian, Thursday August 14 2008 Article history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/14/georgia.russia
Russian paramilitaries on the road towards Tbilisi. The Russian army
left Gori in convoy and stopped about 30 miles from the city.
Photograph: Sean Smith
The first armoured personnel carrier nudged past the top of the hill.
It paused as if getting its bearings, and then set off towards
Tbilisi. Behind it, an endless column of Russian military vehicles
appeared on a shimmering horizon - trucks, tankers, and a beaten-up
Nissan.
The Russian army was on the move. What wasn't clear was where it was
going. For the next hour the column continued its sedate progress,
past yellow fields and a hazy mountain valley, from Gori towards the
Georgian capital,Tbilisi.
Thirty miles from the city, it stopped. A Russian soldier hopped out
of his vehicle and began directing traffic. "We've been told to stay
there," he explained, pointing down a rough dirt track towards the
rustic hamlet of Orjosari, just over a mile away.
The soldier said Russia didn't intend to keep going down the main
highway connecting Tbilisi to Gori, and the east and west of the
country. "The only reason we've come here is because of a provokazia
by Mikheil Saakashvili," he said, accusing Georgia's president of
wrongdoing.
In theory the conflict between Russia and Georgia is now over, as
European negotiators led by France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy,
hammer out a peace deal. In reality, Russia's mighty war machine was
trundling insouciantly through Georgia.
Several Russian trucks overshot and missed their turning. One broke
down. A soldier got the wheezing vehicle going again. Where was he
from? "Chechnya. We've come here to help," he said.
For the terrified residents of Gori and surrounding villages, it
didn't seem like help. Yesterday morning, as the Russian tanks
advanced from their base in South Ossetia they passed through Georgian
controlled-villages, telling residents to hang out white flags or be
shot.
Behind them, according to people fleeing those villages, came a
militia army of Chechen and Ossetian volunteers who had joined up with
the regular Russian army. The volunteers embarked on an orgy of
looting, burning, murdering and rape, witnesses claimed, adding that
the irregulars had carried off young girls and men.
"They killed my neighbour's 15-year-old son. Everyone was fleeing in
panic," Larisa Lazarashvili, 45, said. "The Russian tanks arrived at
our village at 11.20am. We ran away. We left everything - our cattle,
our house, and our possessions."
Achiko Khitarishvili, 39, from Berbuki, added: "They were killing,
burning and stealing. My village isn't in a conflict zone. It's pure
Georgia."
These claims of Russian atrocities were impossible to verify. But the
mood of panic was real enough - with villagers fleeing towards Tbilisi
by all means possible. One family of eight piled into a tiny white
Lada; others fled on tractors.
For much of the day the Russian troops in Gori were busying destroying
Georgia's military infrastructure. Smoke poured from the military
supply camp in the village of Uplistsikhe.
Those who fled expressed a feeling of betrayal. They said Russia's
president, Dmitry Medvedev, had duped them. "I believed him when he
said there was peace. That's why we stayed in our homes. But it isn't
true," Lamzika Tushmali, 62, said. She added: "There is no ceasefire."
At the end of the Russian column, a group of volunteers arrived in a
shabby mini-van flying a Russian flag. One of them had his face
covered with a balaclava; all were heavily armed; their mood was
exuberant. What were they doing? "We've come for a holiday," one said.
For most of the day there was no sign of the Georgian army. After five
days of ferocious bombardment by Russian warplanes, it appears not to
exist. With rumours swirling of an imminent Russian attack on Tbilisi,
however, Georgia mustered a platoon of 50 soldiers, who took up
positions 10 miles down the road from where the Russians appeared to
have parked up for the night.
On Georgian radio, meanwhile, military experts were discussing the
possibility of a new partisan war against the Russians - suggesting
that the government's failure meant that it was time for ordinary
Georgians to take the initiative.
It's an idea that may take root. "I spent two years in the Soviet
army. If there is a partisan army I'll be in the first row," Koba
Chkhirodze, 41, said yesterday.
accused of orgies of looting and rape
· Fleeing villagers accuse Medvedev of betrayalLuke Harding in Gori
The Guardian, Thursday August 14 2008 Article history
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/14/georgia.russia
Russian paramilitaries on the road towards Tbilisi. The Russian army
left Gori in convoy and stopped about 30 miles from the city.
Photograph: Sean Smith
The first armoured personnel carrier nudged past the top of the hill.
It paused as if getting its bearings, and then set off towards
Tbilisi. Behind it, an endless column of Russian military vehicles
appeared on a shimmering horizon - trucks, tankers, and a beaten-up
Nissan.
The Russian army was on the move. What wasn't clear was where it was
going. For the next hour the column continued its sedate progress,
past yellow fields and a hazy mountain valley, from Gori towards the
Georgian capital,Tbilisi.
Thirty miles from the city, it stopped. A Russian soldier hopped out
of his vehicle and began directing traffic. "We've been told to stay
there," he explained, pointing down a rough dirt track towards the
rustic hamlet of Orjosari, just over a mile away.
The soldier said Russia didn't intend to keep going down the main
highway connecting Tbilisi to Gori, and the east and west of the
country. "The only reason we've come here is because of a provokazia
by Mikheil Saakashvili," he said, accusing Georgia's president of
wrongdoing.
In theory the conflict between Russia and Georgia is now over, as
European negotiators led by France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy,
hammer out a peace deal. In reality, Russia's mighty war machine was
trundling insouciantly through Georgia.
Several Russian trucks overshot and missed their turning. One broke
down. A soldier got the wheezing vehicle going again. Where was he
from? "Chechnya. We've come here to help," he said.
For the terrified residents of Gori and surrounding villages, it
didn't seem like help. Yesterday morning, as the Russian tanks
advanced from their base in South Ossetia they passed through Georgian
controlled-villages, telling residents to hang out white flags or be
shot.
Behind them, according to people fleeing those villages, came a
militia army of Chechen and Ossetian volunteers who had joined up with
the regular Russian army. The volunteers embarked on an orgy of
looting, burning, murdering and rape, witnesses claimed, adding that
the irregulars had carried off young girls and men.
"They killed my neighbour's 15-year-old son. Everyone was fleeing in
panic," Larisa Lazarashvili, 45, said. "The Russian tanks arrived at
our village at 11.20am. We ran away. We left everything - our cattle,
our house, and our possessions."
Achiko Khitarishvili, 39, from Berbuki, added: "They were killing,
burning and stealing. My village isn't in a conflict zone. It's pure
Georgia."
These claims of Russian atrocities were impossible to verify. But the
mood of panic was real enough - with villagers fleeing towards Tbilisi
by all means possible. One family of eight piled into a tiny white
Lada; others fled on tractors.
For much of the day the Russian troops in Gori were busying destroying
Georgia's military infrastructure. Smoke poured from the military
supply camp in the village of Uplistsikhe.
Those who fled expressed a feeling of betrayal. They said Russia's
president, Dmitry Medvedev, had duped them. "I believed him when he
said there was peace. That's why we stayed in our homes. But it isn't
true," Lamzika Tushmali, 62, said. She added: "There is no ceasefire."
At the end of the Russian column, a group of volunteers arrived in a
shabby mini-van flying a Russian flag. One of them had his face
covered with a balaclava; all were heavily armed; their mood was
exuberant. What were they doing? "We've come for a holiday," one said.
For most of the day there was no sign of the Georgian army. After five
days of ferocious bombardment by Russian warplanes, it appears not to
exist. With rumours swirling of an imminent Russian attack on Tbilisi,
however, Georgia mustered a platoon of 50 soldiers, who took up
positions 10 miles down the road from where the Russians appeared to
have parked up for the night.
On Georgian radio, meanwhile, military experts were discussing the
possibility of a new partisan war against the Russians - suggesting
that the government's failure meant that it was time for ordinary
Georgians to take the initiative.
It's an idea that may take root. "I spent two years in the Soviet
army. If there is a partisan army I'll be in the first row," Koba
Chkhirodze, 41, said yesterday.