Russian Tanks ‘Heading For Tbilisi’

Sky News
Wednesday, August 13, 2008

A column of Russian tanks has been seen heading from the Georgian city of Gori towards the capital, Tbilisi, amid reports killing and looting is taking place.

A Sky News team has been robbed at gunpoint on the outskirts of Gori by men thought to be South Ossetian separatist militia. Sky News presenter Andrew Wilson said he could not be sure the men who had pulled their car over were South Ossetian, but they did not seem to be Russian.

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He said the attackers were “wired” and very aggressive, pressing a gun to the head of their driver, and did not respond when shown British passports and told their victims were journalists.

They took their car and equipment, forcing them to return to Gori on foot.

• A d v e r t i s e m e n t

Sky News correspondents Stuart Ramsay and Jason Farrell confirmed there were tanks on the streets in Gori, which has suffered extensively from Russian bombing raids.

Ramsay said the town was “completely surrounded” and that locals were terrified of attacks by irregular separatist forces fighting alongside the Russians.

Farrell said he had seen them patrolling the streets and that a team of Norwegian journalists had been robbed in the centre of the town.

He added that people were fleeing the area and there were reports of fighting which he could not confirm, although he could see smoke rising in the distance.

“(The tanks) just rolled past us with their guns at the ready, definitely looking like they were ready to engage,” he said.

“It’s the same scenes as we were seeing at the beginning of the conflict. As far as the people here are concerned, the politicians may be talking about peace but there’s really no sign of it here.”

Anatoly Nagovitsyn, the Russian military’s deputy chief of staff, categorically denied that there were any tanks on the streets of Gori.

In addition Russia denied that tanks were making their way toward Tbilisi.

Earlier, the leaders of Russia and Georgia formally agreed to stop fighting – but each side accused the other of war crimes.

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