S Ossetians look to Moscow for defence
Published: Thursday, 14 August, 2008, 08:34 AM Doha Time
Demonstrators supporting the Abkhazians and South Ossetians protest against Georgia in front of the Georgian Embassy in Ankara yesterday. The placard reads: Freedom and Peace for the Caucasus. Free South Ossetia. Free Abkhazia
TSKHINVALI, Georgia: “The Russians are defending us. Without the Russians, we would be dead,” says a woman who lives in the war-battered capital of South Ossetia.
After days of clashes and bombardments residents of Tskhinvali are counting more than ever on the Russians for protection.
“The Georgians pretend that they (the Russians) are invading us, but it is a lie,” adds the woman, whose wooden house stands in the centre of the main city of the small separatist territory, which was “liberated” by Russian troops after last Friday’s sudden intervention by the Georgian army.
The few remaining inhabitants who have not fled toward the Russian border leave their shelters to assess the damage, greet each other and head off in search of food.
Vitali crosses his dining room and opens a large wooden trapdoor that conceals the entrance to a 15sq m cellar.
“There were a dozen people down here; they took turns so they could lie down and sleep” during the three-day battle that devastated Tskhinvali, he said.
Vitali was outside the city during the fighting and bombardments. A volunteer soldier in his forties, he joined the battle against the Georgians in the surrounding hillsides - which he refused to talk about.
His neighbour Slavik, however, talked of fear and lack of everything - air, water, food, privacy - while hiding in the cramped cellar below the floorboards. “This was hell!” he shouted and called for Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to be brought before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Three doors down from Vitali’s house, a neighbour shows a bit bigger cellar where 30 people had sought refuge. An 80-year-old woman, Aza, says her five sons left to fight alongside the Russian troops.
Out on the sidewalk, Malena and Salena carrying shopping bags walk slowly around the debris of glass and metal littering the pathway.
They say all their neighbours left the city, but they stayed because they have no relatives to go to in North Ossetia, a province inside Russia.
They say they are still “very afraid” and need some psychological help to deal with the trauma of living in a battleground.
Having heard that the Russian ministry of emergency services has set up a camp to help the people of Tskhivali, the two women said they were making their way there.
Further away, in the southern suburbs of the city, the destruction in places is considerable.
An old man in a tracksuit called Adik shows what missiles did to his nine-storey building: enormous holes in the walls, blackened by smoke from the fires.
His three daughters left the city before the onslaught, leaving him alone at home. “I am a man. I would rather die here,” he said.
At a nearby primary school, the bodies of two Georgian soldiers have been laid out on the grass in front of the building. “They have been there for several days,” Adik said.
“I don’t feel anything for them. They tried to kill our children, they only got what they deserve,” said a Russian journalist at the scene, with approving nods from his colleagues.
The prison in Tskhinvali is empty. The guards opened the doors and let out the 91 prisoners there last Friday, after the first night of bombing.
“We let everyone go,” explained prison director Valentin Bimbolavitch.
“We didn’t have any water or food. One missile landed in the courtyard. Another hit the roof (of the jail) which collapsed,” he said.
During that night of the battle, even prisoners hesitated to step outside. “We were falling over each other in the hallway, both guards and prisoners, scrambling to find some shelter,” Bimbolavitch recalled. – AFP