“We tremble with fear, I feel sorry for the Ukrainians, I pray for them, and I tremble with fear for Georgia,” said Médico Romalachvili, an old woman who accompanied us to the gate of her house, who wanted to see foreigners in the area.
Only the bars of her entrance separate us from her and her vegetable garden, where the young women scratch the ground.
There are very few young people in the village, and about 50 children. Seniors like Medico are in the majority and the memory of this region was tested by the war in 2008.
” The war has taken over all of us, even the less fertile soil. What is happening in Ukraine is horrible, and we all know what it means to us. “
” I was also going to fight in Ukraine, but my old feet gave up. “
Otar is 82 years old and he has points to fix in Russia. With the help of a wooden stick, he walks down the small hill that, from his house, leads to a dirty road. You look there in the building, there. This is Russia’s military base. Only barbed wire separates us, you can clearly see them in the winter, but they have been hidden by trees since spring came.
We are in Ergneti, just 200 meters from the contact line that separates Georgia South Ossetiaone of two Georgian separatist territories (the second being Abkhazia) controlled by Russia since the 2008 lightning war.
President Vladimir Putin sent his troops there in the guise of helping Russian -speakers oppressed by Georgia, a scenario comparable only to the self -proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine.
Although the fighting between the Russian and Georgian forces lasted only five days, it was nevertheless deadly. More than 1,000 dead on both sides, including 400 civilians. It also displaced 120,000 people.
Spring has come in, the vines are growing, the trees are in bloom, but the village of Ergneti is scarred for life.
It was one of many villages completely destroyed by heavy shelling by the Russian army, which at the time threatened to advance on the capital Tbilisi before claiming victory and retreating. .
" They robbed the whole house, they destroyed everything like they did in Ukraine when the soldiers left the occupied villages. "
The invasion of Ukraine returned Otar to a state of distress. To live here is to live in fear from dawn to dusk.
The protagonist is not only close, he is unpredictable, the old man explains. If Russia wins Ukraine, we will be next, then Moldova and Poland.
The houses that have been refurbished are distinguished by their red roof in Ergneti. Otar opened his own door directly towards the middle room. The pink rugs that adorn the walls contrasted her mood.
On one of the walls, an old map of the region depicts what is at stake.
" No one is safe as long as he is in power. No one knows what’s going on in Vladimir Putin’s head, no one. "
Otar is furious with his own government, Georgia, which he says is eating into the hands of Moscow to serve its economic and personal interests. Georgia did not join the chorus of sanctions in Europe, in the name of the country’s economic safety and Russia’s wheat imports.
Tens of thousands of Georgians showed up in the capital Tbilisi to denounce Prime Minister Irakli Garibachvili’s approach to Russia.
His government will do everything to prevent angry Georgians from going to Ukraine to provide assistance to soldiers in kyiv, for fear of escalating tension with neighbors. But at least 2,000 men have gotten there since the invasion began and among them is Otar’s neighbor, a man named Arkadi.
Otar paused for a long time, and rubbed his forehead, he added, his throat tight: he was a lovely man, I saw him grow up. Akardi died in the foreground on April 16. He was 40 years old.
The whole village was shocked. On the dusty road flying there, Leri, a tall man wearing a Nike cap, walks around looking worried.
We found out that he was Arkadi’s cousin and he stopped to tell us about him.
" Arkadi is our hero. He fought in 2008 against the Russians, for Georgia, and said it was a duty to go and help our Ukrainian friends. "
Leri had long hesitated, but told us that she finally decided to come with him to Ukraine when she received the call from the army and a photo to meet her cousin.
The family mourns and guards the outside of the father's house to make sure no one can enter. Leri told us, almost embarrassed, that the father did not yet know of the death of his beloved son.
He will break down and we are waiting for the big brother and the body to arrive in Georgiaexplains Leri, following every car and every person moving forward in the neighborhood.
Another cousin, Gotcha, who lives across the street, invited us to have coffee in her garden, the time to empty our hearts.
Their home also carried the scars of the war of 2008. The stones, as well as the windows and doors, had been replaced. Gotcha said the Russian soldiers stole everything they had, even the alcohol.
Gotcha was furious and said the world had learned nothing from the war in Georgia, which fought alone against the Russian giant. Without help, there would be no weapons and no unity of the West.
We were suddenly interrupted when the dogs started jumping. There is a knock at the gate. This is the father of the soldier Arkadi, who came to the news.
We heard him laugh in the distance before we saw him leave. These few minutes in his presence were unbearable and endlessly sad. Tearful, Gotcha resumed his speech where he had left off.
" If the West had intervened, if the war in Georgia had been taken seriously, Ukraine might not have been attacked today. "
Gotcha also fears Georgia is next on Vladimir Putin’s list of targets. He prayed that his cousin would not have died in vain.
Arkadi’s body arrived at Tbilisi airport five days after our visit to Ergneti. The bodies of two other Georgians who stepped on a mine to retrieve it in Ukraine are expected this week. It is war in all its awfulness and stupidity.
We went to a church in the capital of Tbilisi, where the public was invited to pay their respects.
They fought for us. They died in Ukraine, but it was also our warsaid Leo to me, a young man who had come to meditate, with flowers and all the recognition in the world.
Fourteen years after its own war against Russia, Georgia is mourning the dead. And those living near the front line, like Otar, no longer sleep peacefully.
A few weeks quietly at the Russian base. Otar said he heard no sound, not a tank movement, because the soldiers were fighting the Ukrainians. But they will return.
Source: Radio-Canada
