Leave or be killed, soldiers tell terrified Georgian locals
Monday August 18 2008
"The soldiers told us they had an order from Putin -- leave or be killed." Manana Dioshvili showed no emotion as she described how Russian troops forced her to flee her home. Her former neighbours nodded in agreement, huddled together in a kindergarten whose windows had been blown out by a Russian bomb.
"That's how they explained themselves to us," she recalled of the moment they fled the ethnic Georgian village of Kurta, near the capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali.
"They said, 'Putin has given us an order that everyone must be either shot or forced to leave.' They told us we should ask the Americans for help now because they would kill us if we stayed."
Vardo Babutidze (79) was not lucky enough to be visited by Russian soldiers. Her husband Georgi (85) was shot twice through the chest by an Ossetian paramilitary who came to their house to demand weapons.
"We didn't have any guns, so he shot Georgi in front of me without saying a word," she said. "A neighbour helped me to bury him in our garden and then I just fled."
Frightened refugees told similar stories all over the city of Gori yesterday as the Russian army extended its reach deep into Georgian territory despite a ceasefire agreement signed by President Dmytry Medvedev that requires them to withdraw.
Troops and tanks moved to within 40km of the capital, Tbilisi, setting up roadblocks and digging in defensive positions in the hills above the highway. A line of tanks faced towards Tbilisi outside the village of Kaspi, a day after soldiers had blown up the railway line linking the capital to Georgia's main port of Poti.
Six Russian checkpoints have been set up on the road from Tbilisi to Gori. The heavy military presence all along the route offered no indication that Russian forces were preparing to comply with President Medvedev's promise of withdrawing today.
Alexander Lomaia, Georgia's National Security Council secretary, admitted that he had no idea when or if the Russians would go. He said he had been unable even to obtain assurances that they would not enter Tbilisi.
Suspicious
"If they are not staying here, why did they blow up our TV centre and bring their transmitters to broadcast their own TV and radio? It looks very suspicious," he said.
"We feel legally bound to the commitment to cease fire that we have made but it looks like they don't feel committed to this agreement.
"After the ceasefire, they exploded the bridge and went deeper into our territory . . . they have cut the country in two."
The regional governor, Lado Vardzelashvili, has returned to Gori but the Russians still refuse to allow Georgian police into the city.
Although many buildings in the main square have suffered bomb damage Gori remains largely intact, contrary to Georgian government claims that it had been destroyed. Despite refusing to allow Georgian police into Gori, there were few Russian troops visible inside the city, though tanks blocked a road near the main square.
Locals said that the army had withdrawn to the outskirts of Gori but patrolled the streets in armoured vehicles at night and had imposed a 10pm curfew.
Everyone is now waiting to see if the Russians will leave. (© The Times, London)
- Tony Halpin in Gori
