‘Putin Has Given Us An Order That Everyone Must Leave Or Be Shot’
The Times Of London:
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.”
Manana Galigashvili, 53, whose husband Andrei stared vacantly from a bed behind her, said that Ossetian soldiers had returned later and torched the house. They, too, had left after a soldier threatened to slit their throats.
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 Medvedev that requires them to withdraw.
Troops and tanks moved to within 25 miles (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, starting at the village of Igoeti, the closest to the capital that occupying troops have been since the conflict started on August 7. Troops searched the few cars that were allowed on to the road by Georgian police, who blocked the highway three miles away and fumed at the latest indignity heaped upon them by the Russians.
The heavy military presence all along the route offered no indication that Russian forces were preparing to comply with President Medvedev’s promise by withdrawing today. However, convoys of aid from the International Red Cross and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees were allowed to travel into Gori.
Alexander Lomaia, Georgia’s National Security Council secretary, stood in the shadow of Stalin’s statue in Gori’s main square and 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, a prospect that has left many Georgians in a state of panic.
“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. “It is a matter of fact that they have expanded geographically since yesterday.
“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.
Mr Lomaia said: “We have two options - either we attack them to get into the city or obey the rules that they impose … They say that the moment they see any Georgian police cars in the city they will shoot.”
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. But food supplies are running low.
Behind the shattered glass walls of Gori’s “Complex Sports School”, refugees screamed and jostled each other as local officials tried to distribute boxes of food supplied by the Turkish Red Crescent. Each box contained packets of flour, rice, beans and pasta.
Outside, a group of women complained that profiteers had been selling aid. Nana Piekrishvili said: “They organise lines and tell us to come at a particular time but then they have nothing to give us. There are men walking away with aid boxes and we get nothing. They are also coming to people’s homes and looking for humanitarian aid to take back so that they can start selling it on the streets.”
Despite refusing to allow Georgian police into Gori, there were few Russian troops visible inside the city, though tanks blocked a road about 500 metres from 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.
Mr Lomaia seemed highly sceptical. He said: “I think they will ask for some concessions and will be bargaining hard. That’s why they are taking as many places as they can now.”
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We do not negotiate with terrorists!!
Oh wait……
August 18th, 2008 at 8:25 amNow we see what Russia was preparing. The brutality and lack of humanitarian concern shown by Russia’s poorly disciplined troops in attacking Georgia are shocking.
• Russia used SS-21 missiles, one of the deadliest weapons in its military’s arsenal, on areas they knew contained civilians.
• Russian aircraft dropped incendiary devices on Georgian forests to create fires, panic and terror.
• Putin’s forces also dropped cluster bombs on civilian populations, knowing full well those munitions’ main use is to kill and maim people, not destroy buildings or damage property.
• Troops have looted, robbed banks, stolen goods, murdered, burned towns and raped women as part of a terror campaign.
Putin prepared the Russian public for this by using the cowed Russian media to whip up nationalistic hysteria, suggesting Russia was under siege and encircled by enemies ready to do NATO’s bidding.
August 18th, 2008 at 8:43 amJust one more emissary of the dark prince. If you really want to worry him, push hard for NATO status for Georgia & Ukraine, move fast on missle defense installation in Poland and stop talking to him!
August 18th, 2008 at 8:54 amBut wait, didn’t Bush say that he had looked into Rasputin’s eyes and found him to be a man he could deal with/trust or something like that? Hmmmm…
August 18th, 2008 at 9:17 amOn the other hand if you like the idea of russia crushing the democracies of former soviet block countries, china making a move on overthrowing Taiwan, muslims in cabinet positions in the U.S., the undoing of democratization of Iraq, a green light to Iran for nuclear weapons production, a pass on objecting to russian bombers stationed on cuban, venezualan and algerian airbases and the demise of freedom of speech, religion and personal protection, vote for obama.
August 18th, 2008 at 9:18 amWhere’s Jack Murtha?
August 18th, 2008 at 9:32 amWhere’s Jack Murtha?
August 18th, 2008 at 9:32 am
August 18th, 2008 at 10:11 amJacking off some place. Mens room, closet, elevator.?
the meddling george soros has been involved there..
August 18th, 2008 at 10:15 amhttp://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1519076/posts
I’m still waiting for Bush’s trump card. Meanwhile, why does Putin look like he’s slathered in face makeup?
August 18th, 2008 at 3:56 pmHas anyone heard from Giorgi????
August 18th, 2008 at 4:16 pmHaven’t seen him, hope he’s all right.
August 18th, 2008 at 4:33 pmthe meddling george soros has been involved there..
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1519076/posts
———————————–
Dad3-7 I have been looking into that entire situation. I can assure you it blows my mind.
August 18th, 2008 at 4:46 pmFrom the comments section of the link from Dad3-7:
“… George Soros — the American billionaire and philanthropist who is known for his promotion of democracy all over the world.”
This is misleading. Soros himself says he is “a dedicated Socialist, but not a Communist.” A distinction without much of a difference to most of us but his preference is Socialist Democracy. That is to say he would prefer state run economies and state mandated ‘rights’ so as not to have to deal with the ‘messiness’ of uneducated and unenlightened electorates and their varying ideologies, particularly those based upon Christian values.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:08 pmHe’d much rather ‘deal’ with a government that thinks the way he does. He’s a money guy promoting ’stability’ over EVERY other consideration, especially individual freedom.
Also, NONE of his ‘philanthropies’ include organizations that promote family or Judeo-Christian values.
American Infidel and This Guy:
Giorgi posted something this morning. I was the second comment after him. I don’t know if it’s still on the blog but I’ll look for it.
August 18th, 2008 at 7:25 pmI’m here fellas, got a hangover from hell though
August 18th, 2008 at 11:30 pmthe sutiation update: russians are digging in and are slowly getting ready to stay here till …i dont know for how long . every day they are going do different places in georgia trying to find our military which just disappeared - hid the heavy equipment and dressed in civilian clothing. but a large force is still in and around Tbilisi. with their cross country terror hikes russians are trying to provoke us into full out combat which will probably take a heavy toll on remaining forces, and russians will probably attack Tbilisi. at the same time they can always justify their actions by saying that we broke a seize fire agreement. we can prepare several regiments for a guerrilla warfare to give them hell, but im afraid that the civilian population will suffer the most. as u know they brought in the Tochka-U missiles to south ossetia, so if something they gonna use them ..on civilians. they have no trouble in doing so. sad that the prospect of them withdrawing quietly is diminishing, and the only way is to force them out…just my country will become another afghanistan after soviets were done with them in 89 .
I wouldnt worry about russians digging in, everytime a russian soldier is ordered to halt, he digs a shell scrape big enough for him to lie in, that takes about 15 minutes to do. If they dont go after that, he digs it abit deeper, untill he can kneel, then if they stay he digs till he can stand, then he digs sideways to his closest comrades hole.
Its just how they are taught. They can do that in about a day on good ground. Supposedly they use there spades to measure to within an inch how deep they should be.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:23 amgoose, I know
actually viktor suvorovs book the spetsnaz begins with exact same passage 
August 19th, 2008 at 2:06 amthis is true for ongoing operations, but shouldn’t the russians be withdrawing by now, fox holes are for holding positions