Free Republic

TBILISI, Georgia — As the conflict between Russia and Georgia enters its second week, there is growing evidence of looting and “ethnic cleansing” in a number of villages throughout the area of conflict. The attacks — some witnessed by reporters or documented by a human rights group — include stealing, the burning of villages and possibly even killings. Some are ethnically motivated, while at least some of the looting appears to be the work of profiteers in areas from which the authorities have fled. The identities of the attackers vary, but a pattern of violence by ethnic Ossetians against ethnic...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2008 – A cease-fire agreement signed today by the president of the former Soviet republic of Georgia calls for Russian troops to immediately leave his country, America’s senior diplomat said in the Georgian capital today. “And now, with the signature of the Georgian president on this cease-fire accord, all Russian troops and any irregular and paramilitary forces that entered with them must leave immediately,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said during a news conference in Tbilisi with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili at her side. President Bush dispatched Rice to Europe to assist in resolving a now...

Russian soldiers in bank job By STAFF REPORTER RUSSIAN soldiers have been caught on camera ROBBING a bank in war-torn Georgia. The band of gun-toting men were caught on CCTV forcing their way into the bank in Gori. Once inside, the men are seen breaking into the teller offices and rifling through the desks. They are then caught making off with what appear to be armfuls of equipment including laptop computers and perhaps even cash. The outrage took place amid some of the bloodiest fighting in Gori, which is on Georgia’s main east-west highway.

IGOETI, Georgia (Reuters) - A Russian military convoy advanced to a village 45 km (30 miles) from Tbilisi on Friday, in the deepest incursion since conflict with Georgia erupted last week.

A Russian military convoy advanced to within 55 km (34 miles) of Tbilisi on Friday, a Reuters witness said, in the deepest incursion since conflict with Georgia erupted last week. The advance by some 17 armored personnel carriers (APCs) and about 200 soldiers coincided with a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to secure Georgia's signature on a French-brokered peace plan to end the fighting. (snip) The vehicles advanced unimpeded by Georgian police and army stationed along the road. A Reuters correspondent saw a military ambulance, snipers and rocket-propelled grenades. The convoy was initially shadowed by three low-flying...

RUSSIAN soldiers have been caught on camera ROBBING a bank in war-torn Georgia. The band of gun-toting men were caught on CCTV forcing their way into the bank in Gori. Once inside, the men are seen breaking into the teller offices and rifling through the desks.

Russian troops are indiscriminately murdering civilians and interning them in concentration camps, the embattled Georgian president charged yesterday, as he begged the West not to "appease" Moscow as it did with Nazi Germany. The startling accusations came as Russian troops blatantly violated a cease-fire by sending an armored convoy through the strategic city of Gori. The invaders first poured into Georgia five days ago - ostensibly in defense of a pro-Moscow breakaway region, South Ossetia. "What they are doing is exactly what Stalin did to Finland, what they've done to Afghanistan, what in the Second World War Germany was doing...

This is the dramatic moment a TV reporter was shot by a sniper as she reported live from war-torn Georgia. Tamara Urushadze took a bullet to her left arm in the flashpoint town of Gori as Russian forces continued their illegal occupation. Bravely, or foolishly, the 32-year-old brunette continued her report after a few moments as other journalists and aid workers dashed for cover.

GORI, Georgia (AP) - Plans for Russian troops to leave the key Georgian city of Gori appear to have broken down. Early Thursday, the Georgian Interior Ministry said Russian forces were leaving the city that they had taken the day before even though a cease-fire was in effect. (snip) But around midday, the Georgian officials left and some 15 SUVs filled with Georgian soldiers approached a Russian checkpoint on the city's outskirts, pointing guns at the Russian soldiers who then lay in the ground and appeared to prepare for combat. Several Russian tanks then hurried to the position and the...

<p>GORI, Georgia (AP) - The Georgian Foreign Ministry says more Russian troops have moved into the strategically key city of Gori even though a withdrawal had appeared to be under way earlier in the day.</p> <p>Ministry spokeswoman Nato Chikovani also said Thursday that Russian troops had moved into the Black Sea oil port city of Poti, from which they had appeared to leave earlier.</p>

GEORGIAN forces are retaking control of the Georgian city of Gori as the Russian military withdraws, Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said.. "The Russians have started to withdraw, the Georgian police and special forces are taking control," he said. An Agence France-Presse reporter arrived in Gori with a convoy of about 20 police vehicles containing armed officers. He said he saw a Russian tank, armoured personnel carrier and soldiers at a Russian checkpoint at the entrance to the city. According to residents fleeing Gori on Wednesday, the city was the scene of looting and violence as Russian troops and militiamen...

The use of units comprised of ethnic Chechens to do much of the very dirty work in Georgia. The nickname [‘Shrek’] given by his comrades to the bald, pug-eared soldier was the only moment of light relief during a day of tense drama in which The Times witnessed Russia breaching the ceasefire agreement over South Ossetia at will. At a checkpoint set up by the Russian Army on the approach to the city of Gori from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, an armoured personnel carrier blocked the road and riflemen had fanned out in the surrounding bushes, their weapons trained on...

Energy: Russia's bloody invasion of a smaller neighbor whose territory includes a vital oil pipeline has left many people wondering: What can we do? Plenty, it turns out — including some things right here at home.Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced he was halting Russia's air and ground attack on Georgia, but someone forgot to tell Russia's military. It has continued its brutal assault, with news reports that Russian troops have started looting, raping and savagely attacking Georgian civilians. It's clear former President Vladimir Putin, not his handpicked successor Medvedev, is calling the shots. Putin's made no secret of the fact...

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) -- Georgia's deputy defense minister says Russian troops are apparently pulling out of two towns. Bato Kuteliya said Wednesday the troops had left the western town of Zugdidi -- near the breakaway province of Abkhazia -- and are expected to leave the city of Gori shortly.

An AP reporter saw dozens of trucks and armored vehicles leaving Gori, roaring southeast. Soldiers waved at journalists and one soldier jokingly shouted to a photographer: "Come with us, beauty, we're going to Tbilisi!" But the convoy turned north and left the highway about an hour's drive from the Georgian capital, and set up camp a mile off the road. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russian troops were near Gori to secure weapons left behind by the Georgians. To the west, Russian-backed Abkhazian separatists pushed Georgian troops out of Abkhazia and even moved into Georgian territory itself, defiantly planting...

<p>OUTSIDE GORI, Georgia - Russian troops and paramilitaries rolled into the strategic Georgian city of Gori on Wednesday, apparently violating a truce designed to end the conflict that has uprooted tens of thousands and scarred the Georgian landscape Georgian officials said Gori, a central hub on Georgia's main east-west highway, was looted and bombed by the Russians before they left later in the day.</p>

South Ossetian separatists backed by Russian forces were accused today of deliberately targeting civilians around the abandoned Georgian city of Gori in blatant defiance of a French-brokered ceasefire. But Georgian officials said that there was no need to panic over a long armed Russian column that rolled out of the city today and headed south towards the capital, Tbilisi. The convoy of around 100 vehicles, including armoured personnel carriers, turned off the road after 20 km and was thought to be looping back to the disputed enclave. The ceasefire was agreed yesterday and endorsed both by President Medvedev of Russia...

Russian military convoys have left Gori and are advancing towards a Georgian village, in defiance of the EU-brokered truce. A column of 70 Russian military vehicles, including military trucks with anti-aircraft guns and artillery, as well as armoured personnel carriers, pursued by a large contingent of the world's media, left Gori on the road to Tbilisi and turned left a few kilometres outside of the frontline Georgian town. Russian troops claimed they were on a "humanitarian mission", however, the true purpose of the mission remained unclear as reports of burning and looting in villages near Gori by South Ossetian rebels...

RUSSIA last night violated its ceasefire with Georgia, sending an armoured convoy deeper into the Western-aligned former Soviet republic less than a day after the deal was brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. About 60 tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles left the key Georgian town of Gori and was headed towards the capital Tbilisi, 75km away. Russian soldiers leaned out of the windows of the trucks shouting "Tbilisi! Tbilisi!'' and waving Russian flags, about 10km south of Gori, from where Georgian forces last Friday launched their offensive on the breakaway province of South Ossetia. The move out of...

Separatist fighters and Russian troops have looted and set homes ablaze in Georgian territory amid fears over a fragile ceasefire that ended five days of bitter conflict. Despite a French-brokered truce agreed to by the leaders of the two countries, Russia faces mounting criticism in the West. Russian armoured vehicles patrolled the flashpoint town of Gori and about 60 tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles were seen on the road from Gori to the Georgian capital, 75 kilometres away. An AFP reporter saw Russian troops shouting: "Tbilisi, Tbilisi". But Russia has denied these reports. "No Russian troops or armour...