GEORGIA: Russian troops queue to cross border to Russia as Georgians protest their presence at remaining checkpoints

Record ID: 212702

  • Title: GEORGIA: Russian troops queue to cross border to Russia as Georgians protest their presence at remaining checkpoints
  • Date: 24th August 2008
  • Summary: (BN12) SOUTH OSSETIAN BORDER WITH RUSSIA, GEORGIA (AUGUST 23, 2008) (REUTERS) RUSSIAN TANKS CROSSING CHECKPOINT VARIOUS OF TANKS DRIVING INTO TUNNEL
  • Embargoed: 8th September 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Georgia
  • Country: Georgia
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVA8TKCQFH4RDG1IZIGUY6ZZZFKT
  • Story Text: A line of Russian tanks and APCs was seen queuing at the Russian border checkpoint to cross into Russia from the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia on Saturday (April 23).
    Moscow set itself a deadline of Friday (August 22) night to complete its pullback, and by Saturday large swathes of Georgia were free of Russian forces for the first time in two weeks Moscow sent in troops this month after Georgia tried to retake its separatist South Ossetia region.
    By Saturday Russian checkpoints were gone from the main highway linking the capital to the Black Sea, an economic lifeline.
    But the focus was shifting to the buffer zones stretching deep inside Georgia where Russia has said its troops will now maintain a permanent presence.
    The Kremlin says it must stay on to prevent further bloodshed, but Georgia and its Western allies says the zones will give Russia a stranglehold over a country that lies on a transit route for energy exports from the Caspian Sea.
    A Reuters reporter in Poti, Georgia's main Black Sea port, said he could see 20 soldiers at a Russian checkpoint at the entrance to the town, 100 metres back from the road.
    Up to 1,000 people gathered in Poti to protest against the Russian presence.

    "Putin, what do you want from us?" said one angry protester.

    "Fascists have come to our Georgian soil. You will never have the Georgian soil. You will never make us fight with each other. Go away!"
    said another.
    The conflict between Russia and pro-Western Georgia has left the United States, NATO and European Union groping for a response. Beyond freezing NATO's contacts with Russia, the West looks to have little influence over energy powerhouse Russia.
    Georgia's busiest port for oil and oil products is to the south in Batumi, but Poti can load up to 100,000 barrels per day of oil products, which arrive by rail from Azerbaijan. Poti is also a major gateway for merchandise bound not only for Georgia but for other Caucasus republics and Central Asia.
    The conflict between Russia and pro-Western Georgia has left the United States, NATO and European Union groping for a response. Beyond freezing NATO's contacts with Russia, the West looks to have little influence over energy powerhouse Russia.
    Moscow said it had honoured a ceasefire deal by pulling back most of its forces, but soldiers and weapons remained deep inside Georgia to carry out what the Kremlin has called a peacekeeping operation.
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