Russia accused of blocking return of Georgian refugees

Published on Saturday 30 August 2008 19:35

RUSSIAN troops are preventing Georgians from returning to their homes, a United Nations agency warned yesterday.

Melita Sunjic, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner of Refugees in Georgia, said that although it was not clear if Russian soldiers were actually preventing refugees from returning, the warnings block them from going home.

"If they say 'we can't guarantee your safety', you don't go," she said.

Some 2,000 refugees are at UNHCR camps in Gori, and thousands of others remain in the region. They hope to return to villages in the "security zones" Russia has claimed for itself on Georgian territory south of the border with South Ossetia.

US Senator Bob Corker, a member of the foreign relations committee, visited Gori yesterday to observe the distribution of American food aid.

Asked whether the US was considering new military aid, Corker said "these subjects are part of a longer and midterm discussion" when Congress reconvenes in September.

Fighting broke out on August 7 when Georgian forces began heavy shelling of the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, hoping to retake control of the province. Russian forces poured in, pushed the Georgians out in days and then drove deep into Georgia proper.

Under a European Union-brokered ceasefire, both sides were supposed to return their forces to pre-war positions, but Russia has interpreted one of the clauses as allowing it to set up four-mile-deep security zones, which are now marked by Russian checkpoints.

Refugees coming into Georgia from those zones say they have been terrorised, beaten and robbed by South Ossetians.

Georgia has severed diplomatic ties with Moscow in protest against the presence of Russian troops on its territory. It claims, as does the West, that Russia is violating the EU agreement.

"We found ourselves in an awkward situation when a country invading and occupying our country, then recognising part of its territories, is trying to create a sense of normalcy" by maintaining diplomatic relations, said Georgian foreign minister Eka Tkeshelashvili.

With EU leaders set to meet this week on how to deal with an increasingly assertive Russia, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has angrily warned Europe not to do America's bidding and said Moscow does not fear western sanctions.

Gordon Brown discussed the agreement yesterday with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin said.

Medvedev told Brown why Moscow had recognised South Ossetia and Abkhazia and said Russia was complying with the ceasefire accord, which "fully retained its value", the Kremlin said. A British spokesman said: "We are not going to be drawn on the details of that conversation. The next step will be the European Council meeting" tomorrow.

The American government agency USAID has delivered more than $30m (17m) of aid. Two US vessels have already delivered aid to Georgian ports. A third vessel is on its way.

The first two ships scrapped plans to dock in the port of Poti, where Russian troops have set up checkpoints and still patrol over the objections of Georgia and western governments.

Russia views with suspicion the use of US warships to deliver aid to Georgia and says it is worried by the build-up of alliance navy ships in the Black Sea, where it has traditionally been dominant.