RFE/RL Continuous Live Coverage of Russian Withdrawal
(Tbilisi/Prague, August 19, 2008) RFE/RL special correspondent Goga Aptsiauri is one of only a handful of journalists reporting from the besieged town of Gori, in central Georgia. He has been tracking events there since the start of the conflict.
His coverage is available on a special RFE/RL Blog From Gori.
Highlights from the reporting so far:
- Gori remains completely under the control of the Russian military, even though the withdrawal of Russian troops was supposed to begin yesterday
- Russian troops established a new checkpoint in the town
- Georgia accused Russia of dragging out its withdrawal to allow for maximum degradation of Georgia’s military and economic infrastructure
- Georgian and international journalists were still being prevented by Russian forces from entering Gori
- Russia’s state-owned Rossia television was the only channel available to Gori’s residents
- Supply lines to some villages remained blocked, despite Russian pledges to open aid corridors
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RFE/RL’s Tbilisi bureau has correspondents throughout the country reporting from the front lines. Visit RFE/RL’s Georgia Crisis Page, a comprehensive site with the latest news, analysis, photos and video of the conflict.
“With the Russian and Georgian media providing, at times, wildly different accounts of what is actually happening on the ground, our listeners depend on us for accurate, objective information,” said Kakabadze, RFE/RL’s Georgian Service director. “Our journalists are sorting through the ethnic and nationalist passions stirred up by this conflict in order to let people on both sides of the conflict know what is really taking place in their cities.”
CSPAN featured correspondents of RFE/RL’s Georgian service in a live hookup between Washington, Tbilisi and Prague on Friday to discuss the week-long conflict between Russia and Georgia.
[Watch the briefing on C-SPAN; transcript]
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