Categories
Journalistic Survey
Articles
Reportage
Analitic
Photo Reportage
Exclusive
Interview
Foreign Media about Georgia
Editorial
Position
Reader's opinion
Blog
Themes
Children's Rights
Women's Rights
Justice
Refugees/IDPs
Minorities
Media
Army
Health
Corruption
Elections
Education
Penitentiary
Religion
Others

Russian Provide Safety to Residents of Anaklia from Bombing Raid

August 24, 2008

Nana Pazhava, Zugdidi

It might sound incredible but it is factual: residents of the Black Seaside village were escaping the fallen bombs from Russian aircraft and they were able to find shelter at the check point that belongs to Russian forces. On August 10, in parallel to Russian bombing raids, Russian soldiers deployed in the center of the village of Anaklia opened the iron gate of their checkpoint in order to provide protection to the locals. Russian soldiers were recording the event on video and photo cameras in order to demonstrate their human behavior. Residents of Anaklia, however, considered the display of mercy of Russian soldiers as being something that was not a true act of altruism, and was rather a cynic act more suited to PR than humanitarian grounds.  

The Russian air force started bombing the village at 3:00 PM. The first bomb was dropped in the yard of the house of Genadi Jgharkava, a local resident.

Genadi Jgharkava: “When they started their bombing, I was one kilometer away from my house. I had gone to the field to harvest some forage for the cattle with a horse cart. I would never have imagined that my house would be targeted for Russian bombing runs. When the bombing was over I returned home. It was not a problem as I live alone. Otherwise people could have been killed or wounded.  I was astonished by the sight. My yard did not have a gate and instead of the gate I found a hole with the length of 8 meters and a depth of 4 meters. The bomb had buried the fence by pulling it into the ground. Another hole was in front of the yard closer to the seaside; Russians bombs had hit there too….”

The Russians dropped four bombs in the yard of Genadi Kgharkava and within the span of five-minute, and the locals were eyewitness to how the bombs rained down. 

Emzar Berulava: “Initially I heard aircraft flying overhead. Then I saw two planes coming in our direction coming from Abkhazia. They initially made a circle and then flew in the direction of our street. Two bombs were dropped at almost at the same time. I also saw how the yard of Genadi Jgharkava” was bombed out.

Giorgi Soktoghli: “When I heard the aircrafts flying I climbed on the roof of my house. I was watching the sky from there; I do not know why I climbed on the roof. Somehow I had immediately lost any sense of fear and climbed up there without giving it a second thought. I was watching how the Russian planes were bombing Anaklia; it was terrible sight…”

Abesalom Jgharkava: “When the bombing started I was one hundred meters away from my brother’s house. I saw my wife running towards our house. Two bombs dropped between me and my wife. If my wife had been several steps closer to where the bomb landed then she would have been killed. Only a miracle saved her from the jaws of death. My daughter and grandchildren were at home. The whole family then rushed to the Russian checkpoints as quickly as possible. Our neighbors also sought refuge at the checkpoint.  Russian soldiers opened the door and tried to “calm” us down.”

“They started recording on video and photo-cameras but none of us said a single word. Even the children didn’t say anything. Nobody had strength to speak; we were all trebling and children were crying “we are afraid”… Several minutes later we heard the explosion from “Zastavi”… Russians did not say what was being bombed. We thought they were bombing our houses. One Russian soldier was “calming us down”: don’t worry; nobody will do harm to you. It was cynic and twist of fate because Russians were protecting us from their own bombs.

The sound of explosions voice of was heard as far as one kilometer away from Russian checkpoint. Russian aviation attacked the HQ of the Georgian Fleet. However, all 16 bombs missed the base and it was not damaged at all. Neither civilians were killed or injured. The seaside of the Black Sea was now on fire.

On August 19 at 10:00 PM Russian-Abkhazian military forces burnt down a patriot youth camp located in the village of Ganmukhuri, which is a sense of early instances between Russian peacekeepers and Georgians.

Kakha Chargazia: “My house is sits in the center of Anaklia and from there I can see the patriot camp of Ganmukhuri very well. Actually only the Enguri River separates my house from the camp. I personally witnessed how 2 tanks and two trucks entered into the camp. We saw the movement of the soldiers; how they were running in the cottages and poured petrol everywhere, they then proceeded to set everything on fire and the whole seaside was ablaze.”

Locals also recall the night of August 18 when one Abkhaz was wounded and two were killed when by a landmine explosion. The landmine was actually planted by Abkhazians. It is thought by the locals that they think that Abkhazians become furious after that incident. However, it was expected that separatists would by all means destroy the camp in Ganmukhuri.”

Occupants burnt all 56 cottages in Ganmukhuri camp and playing fields, boats and the beachfront were completely destroyed in the operation. Now both Russian and Abkhazian troops are patrolling on the territory of the former camp.

Three Georgian National Flags hoisted on the posts in the territory of the Patriot Camp survived the fire and they were flying in spite of the incident.

However, today, Abkhazians have now hoisted their flat in Ganmukhuri. Abkhazian forces fixed it today when Abkhazian forces illegally occupied the villages of Khurcha, Orsantia, Pakhulani, Muzhava and Potskho in Zugdidi and Tsalenjikha districts…

News