Despite Russia's promised pullout from Georgia, numerous cities and sites throughout the country remain under Russian control. This includes the city of Gori close to the de facto border with South Ossetia, where reports continue of dwindling food supplies, looting, and a Kremlin clampdown on press access.

RFE/RL Russian Service correspondent Alan Tskhurbayev was able to travel from the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali to Gori on August 17 and spoke to some of the city's increasingly desperate residents -- Georgians, Ossetians, and Russians among them. This report was broadcast in Russia the following day.

RFE/RL: The road from the destroyed South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali to Gori takes half an hour by car. On our way, we pass by Georgian villages, where only the elderly remain. Gori looks just as deserted -- empty streets, bullet holes in the walls, curtains billowing in the wind, and the crackling of broken glass under our feet.

The majority of the city's population fled with the arrival of Russian troops, and those who remain are mainly the elderly, who have nowhere to go. They gather at a church bakery, where every morning free bread is given out. According to Tina, a Georgian resident of Gori, there is no other food in the city.

Tina: There is nothing! No butter, no bread, no light, no gas! There isn't even anyone in the city administration building.

RFE/RL: There are Russian residents in the city, too. This woman, who asked to remain anonymous, came to Gori 60 years ago.

Russian woman: We haven't had light for several days, and no television since [August] 8th. We've lost everything. There are no windows left anywhere. The local administration? There is none -- it's just us, ordinary people. I’m the only Russian left, everyone else is gone.

RFE/RL: Georgy, an Ossetian, is very emotional. He doesn’t understand why, for so many years, outsiders have tried to make mortal enemies of what he calls brother nations. Under former Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, he was forced to leave his home in Gori. He returned, and now, again, tragedy has struck.

Georgy: There's no reason for us to be fighting! I don't understand! I was born here, I live here, and I've always loved it. Tell me any street -- I'll take you there, any place around here -- I'll take you!

The Ossetians have lived here for a long time. Under Gamsakhurdia we were forced out of our homes, myself included. Eighteen years have passed and I’ve never held a grudge against the Georgian people. My wife is Georgian; we've been together for 30 years, and we have five grandchildren: two are Georgian, one is Russian, and two are Ossetian.

An elderly Georgian woman who fled from the village of Korta lies on the ground to rest at an abandoned gas station outside Gori.