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Behind The Poti Lines

Sporadic Electricity And The Sound Of Excavators

August 25, 2008
Digging in

11 p.m. local time (7 p.m. GMT)

This evening Poti was left without electricity for half an hour. I made some calls, and was told that the power cut had nothing to do with the current situation or the Russian forces. They told me it was a "frequency" problem, and electricity would return shortly -- which it did.

As I'm writing this, Ramaz Zhvania, the severely beaten man, is being taken to Kutaisi. Local authorities are taking care of his transportation. Since my last entry, his condition has worsened a bit, unfortunately -- the doctors have said his condition is "serious but stable."

The Russian soldiers, their armored vehicles, and military hardware remain at their checkpoints. This is hardly surprising, as it was only the other day that Anatoly Nogovitsin, the deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, openly declared that the Russian forces were here to stay. Just because the 1994 cease-fire agreement did not define Poti as part of the "security zone," he said, this did not mean the Russian forces were going to be sitting behind the fence, watching as the Georgians "drive their Humvees and move munitions around in trucks." So this is what's happening, I guess.

We could still hear the sounds of excavators today -- indicating that the Russian soldiers have carried on digging their trenches. No one knows why exactly they are doing this. Altogether, there are around 60 troops -- perhaps a few more -- but the personnel keep rotating. A little while ago I spoke with the deputy mayor of Poti, Gela Lagvilava, who told me that the soldiers had been seen sunbathing barechested not far from the beach.
 
 
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About This Blog
RFE/RL's Georgian Service correspondent Tea Absaridze was blogging from the key Black Sea port of Poti until Russian troops finally withdrew from their checkpoints outside that western Georgian city on September 13. Her posts reflect a city on edge, with foreign forces digging in even as the leadership in Moscow vowed it was on the way out. Photos were provided by Absaridze and Lasha Zarginava. Write to Tea at webteam@rferl.org
 
 
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Crisis In Georgia
For RFE/RL's full coverage of the conflict that began in Georgia's breakway region of South Ossetia, click here.

 

 
 
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