On the night of August 8, 2008, after provocations from Russia,
Georgia decided to restore constitutional order in its
secessionist province of South Ossetia, which borders Russia
and was previously ruled by Georgia.
The next day, Russia entered the conflict and ousted Georgian troops
from Tskhinvali. On August 12, Georgia and Russia signed a ceasefire agreement.
This blitzkrieg killed hundreds. According to the Georgian government,
roughly 300,000 people fled their homes. Nearly 10 Georgian villages were
destroyed by Russians, and almost the same number of Ossetian villages were
destroyed by Georgians.
Today Georgians and Ossetians are separated
by a post in Ergneti village and by the Russian, Ossetian and Georgian flags.
Georgia is on the Northern side, South Ossetia on the Southern.
This post also separates the family of Ludmila Bestaeva. She is the only
Ossetian left in Ergneti. She lives here because her husband is Georgian.
The war deprived them of the wealth they had acquired over 10 years,
but also of their relatives on the other side of the barricades.
All my relatives stayed in Tskhinvali. My sister, father and cousins.
Now we have contact only by telephone. I was last there on September 4.
On September 8, I returned. Since then, I haven't seen my relatives.
Georgians on the post now don't let anyone into Tskhinvali.
When Georgian troops entered Tskhinvali, Ludmila's relatives went to Vladikavkaz,
the capital of North Ossetia, in Russia. They were lucky to survive.
I left Tskhinvali on August 4, with my children, who were with my sister.
A few days later, my sister's family left Tskhinvali.
Ludmila is 35. She hopes that one day, she will be back in Tskhinavali,
the city where she was born and raised.
Nanuli and Nodar Doijashvili don't have this hope any longer.
On August 13, 2008, their house in Ergneti was burnt to ashes.
The husband and wife were saved by a miracle.
We have a shelter in our cellar. We hid there with our neighbors.
We stayed there until August 13.
Then our neighbor found out that the Cossacks were coming. We fled.
We escaped through the backdoor, running across yards and gardens.
We had to crash fences. And we had a neighbor with us who
had his leg amputated.
Three days later, at night, we returned in quiet.
Russian tanks were already here, and our house was burnt.
The Doijashvilis' believe their house was burnt by Ossetians.
But despite this, they do not hold a grudge against them.
They are nostalgic. They remember the recent past, when they were able to walk
to Tskhinvali every day.
The last time I was there, a friend gave me slippers to remember her by.
Another one gave me a blouse. It seemed they sensed something.
The war began the next day. We, ordinary people from both sides,
didn't want this to happen. We had no right to kill each other.
Before the war the Doijashvilis lived in a two-story house.
Today they live in single-room cottage, built by a relief organization.
Before the war, 300 families lived in Ergneti. Only 20 families are left.
Ossetians fled to Russia.
Georgians, fearing the military would return, went to other regions.
People go to Gori or Tbilisi. They don't want to stay in Ergneti.
Here are burnt-out houses, and there's no food.
People are running. But where should I go?
Natela Geguashvili doesn't want to leave Ergneti either.
When the war started, she fled with her family to Tbilisi.
Their abandoned house was first robbed and later burnt.
We weren't here, but the neighbors told us the house was set on fire August 13.
A car was nearby and the driver was kidnapped. He was beaten
and taken to Tskhinvali. Then they came back and burned the house.
They were Ossetians. People saw them bringing petrol and burning the house.
Today Natela lives in her neighbor's house. She blames the governments
of Russia and Georgia for what has happened to her.
Jemal Kasradze does not, even though he lost nearly everything.
This war could have been avoided, but I don't condemn Georgia for starting it.
Russians and Ossetians crashed these gates with tanks. They took all the wealth
from the house over four days. Then they set fire to it.
But Russian TV channels claimed that Georgians did it.
This war lasted only five days. The Georgian army used
multiple rocket launchers, howitzers and large-calibre weapons against
the peaceful civilians of Tskhinvali.
The most severe Russian 58th army followed by Ossetians crossed
the borders of Georgia and destroyed Georgian cities.
This war had no winner. Both Georgians and Ossetians,
who had lived together for centuries, were losers in this war.
Two nations that used to be called "brotherly" are unlikely
to be as close again.