Occupation of Gori was the takeover of the
GeorgianGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
city of
GoriGori is a city in eastern Georgia, which serves as the regional capital of Shida Kartli and the centre of the eponymous administrative district. The name is from Georgian gora, that is, "heap", or "hill"...
and its surrounding villages by
Russian military forcesThe Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is the Ministry of Defense subordinated military of Russia, established after the break-up of the Soviet Union...
, which commenced on August 13 2008 as part of the 2008 South Ossetian War, and ended with the withdrawal of
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n units from the city by 22 August 2008.
Gori is a Georgian city close to the border with the breakaway province of
South OssetiaSouth Ossetia is a disputed region in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic....
. It was the staging area for the
Georgian armyThe Georgian Armed Forces , is the name of the unified armed forces of Georgia. The Georgian military is a defence force consisting of an Georgian Land Forces, Georgian Navy, Georgian Air Force and a paramilitary organization Georgian National Guard...
during the
Battle of TskhinvaliThe Battle of Tskhinvali was a fight for the city of Tskhinvali, capital of South Ossetia; the city was fought over three days in August, 2008. It was the only major battle in the 2008 South Ossetia War...
and was bombed several times by the
Russian Air ForceThe Russian Air Force is the air force of Russia. It is the second or third largest Air Force in the world, depending on whether aircraft or personnel numbers are compared with the People's Liberation Army Air Force. It is currently under the command of Colonel General Aleksandr Zelin...
.
On August 9, the bombs hit a residential district of the city near the local
military baseA military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations.- Etymology :...
, destroying and damaging several apartment buildings and a school, killing and injuring many.
Occupation of Gori was the takeover of the
GeorgianGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
city of
GoriGori is a city in eastern Georgia, which serves as the regional capital of Shida Kartli and the centre of the eponymous administrative district. The name is from Georgian gora, that is, "heap", or "hill"...
and its surrounding villages by
Russian military forcesThe Armed Forces of the Russian Federation is the Ministry of Defense subordinated military of Russia, established after the break-up of the Soviet Union...
, which commenced on August 13 2008 as part of the 2008 South Ossetian War, and ended with the withdrawal of
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n units from the city by 22 August 2008.
Background and initial airstrikes
Gori is a Georgian city close to the border with the breakaway province of
South OssetiaSouth Ossetia is a disputed region in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic....
. It was the staging area for the
Georgian armyThe Georgian Armed Forces , is the name of the unified armed forces of Georgia. The Georgian military is a defence force consisting of an Georgian Land Forces, Georgian Navy, Georgian Air Force and a paramilitary organization Georgian National Guard...
during the
Battle of TskhinvaliThe Battle of Tskhinvali was a fight for the city of Tskhinvali, capital of South Ossetia; the city was fought over three days in August, 2008. It was the only major battle in the 2008 South Ossetia War...
and was bombed several times by the
Russian Air ForceThe Russian Air Force is the air force of Russia. It is the second or third largest Air Force in the world, depending on whether aircraft or personnel numbers are compared with the People's Liberation Army Air Force. It is currently under the command of Colonel General Aleksandr Zelin...
.
On August 9, the bombs hit a residential district of the city near the local
military baseA military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations.- Etymology :...
, destroying and damaging several apartment buildings and a school, killing and injuring many. According to the Georgian Government, 60 were killed.
Georgian abandonment
By the evening of August 10, following a warning by the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs that Gori was "not safe", large numbers of the civilian population began to flee the city. The next day, a spokesman for the
United Nations High Commissioner for RefugeesThe Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country...
(UNHCR) said about 56,000 people have fled the Gori District.
On August 11 Gori was abandoned by the Georgian army. The hasty retreat left a number of abandoned Georgian army vehicles and pieces of heavy military equipment behind. The Georgian forces fled to the capital of Georgia,
TbilisiTbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form Tp'ilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
.
The final air attacks
Georgian officials say Russian forces had been targeting the city's administrative buildings and claimed that the university of Gori and its post office were on fire after the bombings. On August 12, a Dutch television journalist Stan Storimans‎ was killed and several other foreigners injured when Russian warplanes bomnbed the central district of the city. 4 Georgian civilians were also killed. During the final strikes, an air-to-ground missile hit the Gori hospital.
Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo, Toronto,...
(HRW), an international rights group, accused Russia of deploying controversial and indiscriminately deadly cluster bombs on civilian areas of Georgia. HRW said that Russian aircraft had dropped RBK-250 cluster bombs, each containing 30
PTABPTAB was a Soviet World War II design of a Shaped Charge bomb.-Use:...
2.5M submunitions or "bomblets" in the centre of Gori on August 12, killing at least eight civilians and injuring dozens.
Russian occupation
Around the 13 August Russian ground forces have entered Gori. On August 14, the
Russian Ministry of DefenceThe Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation exercises operational leadership of the armed forces of Russia.The Russian Minister of Defence is the nominal commander of all the armed forces, serving under the president of the Russian Federation, in whom executive authority over the military is...
official
Vyacheslav BorisovVyacheslav Nikolaevich Borisov is a Russian general who commanded troops in the 2008 South Ossetian War.-Early life and Career:...
claimed that the city of Gori was controlled jointly by Georgian Police and Russian troops. He further said that Russian troops would start leaving Gori in two days. Russian troops said they were removing military hardware and ammunition from an arms depot outside Gori.
On August 14, columns of Georgian police and military vehicles prepared to reoccupy the strategic town of Gori after the expected departure of Russian forces. Reports of a collapse in negotiations on a handover of the town triggered a confrontation between Georgian and Russian troops at a
checkpointCivilian checkpoints or Security checkpoints are distinguishable from border or frontier checkpoints in that they are erected and enforced within contiguous areas under military or paramilitary control...
on the main road; no shots were fired, but Russian tanks forced the Georgians to pull back.
The Russian forces denied access to some
humanitarian aidHumanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity...
missions seeking to assist civilians. The
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
, which has described the humanitarian situation in Gori as "desperate," was able to deliver only limited food supplies to the city. On August 15, Russian troops allowed a number of humanitarian supplies into the city but continued their blockade of the strategically located city. Russia's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, denied that Russian troops were occupying Gori, saying that Russian soldiers "are not in Gori, have never been in Gori and do not occupy Gori," and rejecting news reports that the town was in ruins.
In the August 17 report, HRW said the organization's researchers interviewed ethnic Georgians from the city of Gori and surrounding villages who described how armed
OssetianOssetian is either:*The Ossetian language*A member of the Ossetian people *A person from the region of Ossetia...
pro-Russian militias attacked their cars and kidnapped civilians as people tried to flee in response to militia attacks on their homes following the Russian advance into the area. In phone interviews, people remaining in Gori region villages told HRW that they had witnessed
lootingLooting , to rob, sacking, plundering, despoiling, or pillaging is the indiscriminate taking of goods by force as part of a military or political victory, or during a catastrophe or riot, such as during war, natural disaster, or rioting...
and
arsonArson is the crime of deliberately and maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires caused by lightning for example. The study of the causes is the subject of fire investigation...
attacks by Ossetian militias in their villages, but were afraid to leave after learning about militia attacks on those who fled. The Russian human rights group
Memorial"Memorial" is an international historical and civil rights society that operates in a number of post-Soviet states. It focuses on recording and publicising the Soviet Union's totalitarian past, but also monitors human rights in post-Soviet states at the present time, for example in...
called these attacks "
pogromA pogrom is a form of riot directed against a particular group, whether ethnic, religious, or other, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes, businesses, and religious centers...
s".
Russian pull out of Gori
The last Russian military formations left the city late on August 22 2008, and Georgian
law enforcementIn North American English, a Law enforcement agency is an organisation that enforces the law.Outside North America, such organisations are called police services. In North America, some of these services are called police, others have other names In North American English, a Law enforcement agency...
units moved into Gori shortly thereafter. Georgian authorities have reported that they were in control of the city and its outskirts. Gigi Ugulava, the mayor of Tbilisi, said that the authorities would arrange an organized return of tens of thousands of refugees to Gori. The closest Russian checkpoint remaining in the vicinity of Gori was located in the village of Karaleti, just five kilometers from the town.