Some years ago, the Georgian coppers swooped in on some drug smugglers. Well, the bad boys had a bear cub, a lioness cub, and a tiger cub as pets. To cut to the chase, the three furry pals grew up together and share the same “house” in a zoo. Who woulda thunk it?
BMD
Heroes of Russia and the crew of the film Август. Восьмого (August the Eighth) paid tribute to the soldiers and civilians killed in South Ossetia three years ago by floating hundreds of candles on the water at Patriarch’s Ponds in Moscow.
Dzanik Faiziev, the director of August the Eighth, told the assemblage about his movie, which is a love story set against the backdrop of the tragic events of August 2008. At the same time, people floated candles, symbolising the “souls of those who won’t return”, on Patriarch’s Ponds. In addition, a monument was unveiled honouring Hero of Russia Major Denis Vetchinov, who died defending a convoy with journalists going to Tskhinvali.
Actor Gosha Kutsenko, one of the cast of August the Eighth, told the crowd that as soon as he heard about the war in South Ossetia, he stopped filming, bought a ticket, and rushed to Vladikavkaz, where he spent several days listening to the stories of wounded soldiers and local residents.
The participants launched 387 candles onto the pond… one for each person killed in South Ossetia. By the end, the ceremony had increased a bit… there were almost as many people present as there were journalists with cameras {that’s nothing to sneeze at, these days: editor}.
According to the Head Office of the Moscow City MVD, about thirty people were active participants in the action.
On the night of 8 August 2008, Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia and destroyed part of its capital, Tskhinvali. In the image above, TV presenter Angelina Vovk and singer Aleksei Vorobyov take part in the memorial ceremony.
During the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, Russia sent troops to South Ossetia to defend the republic’s residents, many of whom were Russian citizens, and, after five days of fighting drove Georgian troops from the region. In the image above, people float candles at Patriarch’s Ponds in Moscow during the memorial ceremony.
8 August 2011
RIA-Novosti
Three years ago, on 8 August 2008, Georgian troops launched an assault on the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali. The Georgians launched a massive bombardment of both residential areas and the positions of Russian peacekeeping forces around the city. Russia sent troops into the republic to defend the South Ossetians (many of whom were Russian citizens) from the Georgian aggression, and, after five days of fighting, drove the Georgian invaders from South Ossetia. Today, on the third anniversary of the war in South Ossetia, Russians remember those killed in August 2008.
The Georgian attack on South Ossetia in August 2008, “killed civilian residents of the Republic, wounded a significant number, completely destroyed 655 houses, and seriously damaged more than 2,100 housing units”.
A toddler in the ruins caused by the Georgian bombardment of Tskhinvali.
Wrecked Georgian armoured vehicles in the streets of Tskhinvali.
Anniversary events honoured the memory of the soldiers and civilians killed in the military conflict between Georgia and South Ossetia in August 2008. On 7 August, Russian heroes, actors, and public figures gathered for a public memorial service at Patriarch’s Ponds in Moscow. Exactly at 21.00 MSK (18.00 UTC 13.00 EDT 10.00 PDT), after a moment of silence, they floated 387 candles onto the water. That was the total number killed on both sides in the” five-day war”.
Speaking at an anniversary event, South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity said that in August 2008 Russia saved the people of the republic from destruction. The inscription on the sign is “Thanks, Russia!”
Memorial Cross in remembrance of the victims of the Georgian aggression (Tskhinvali, South Ossetia).
In fact, today, Russia’s the only guarantor of security in the Caucasus. Over the past three years, Russia’s committed more than 40 billion roubles to the aid of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. At the same time, the RF is also trying to help the two republics diplomatically, taking part in negotiations for the recognition of their sovereign status. The inscription on the banner is, “Tskhinvali, a Hero City”.
A woman in Tskhinvali grieves at the grave of an OMONets (MVD Security Policeman, “black berets”) killed in the fighting in 2008.
“The Museum of Burnt Souls” in the village of Khetagurovo commemorates a convoy of civilian vehicles ambushed by the Georgians during the fighting in 2008. The people were fleeing the war zone in Tskhinvali.
8 August 2011
Voice of Russia World Service
Russian Motor Rifle battalion in road march order. Dzhaba SOUTH OSSETIA
South Ossetian refugee girl in shelter. Vladikavkaz (Republic of North Ossetia-Alania. North Caucasian Federal District) RF. The Don Cossack Host took many of the refugees fleeing the attempted Georgian ethnic cleansing under their wing, as good Christians ought…
Soldier guarding a Russian column on a mountain road on its way to relieve the brave garrison of Tskhvinali. Even though the terrain was perfectly suited to guerilla and special ops activity, the Georgian cowards ran away instead of fighting in most cases…
Georgian MRLs firing indiscriminately at civilian targets in South Ossetia. The MRL is an area weapon, to use it against inhabited civilian neighbourhoods is questionable, at best. Brave guys, weren’t they?
Civilian victims of the Georgians in South Ossetia…
The bodies of South Ossetian militiamen killed protecting their homes and families from the Georgian aggressors. Dzhaba SOUTH OSSETIA
Improvised underground hospital ward used to protect patients and medical staff from indiscriminate Georgian shelling and rocket strikes. Tskhinvali SOUTH OSSETIA
Candlelight vigil and memorial protest in Moscow in front of the Georgian Embassy…
Dead Georgian aggressor on the outskirts of Tskhinvali SOUTH OSSETIA. Sic semper tyrannis!
The Georgian aggression was approved by the US Republican Party (and by the Wilsonian interventionist faction amongst the Democrats)… indeed, both John McCain and Randall Schneuermann (his foreign policy advisor) received money from the Saakashvili junta to act as their lobbyists in Washington. If you vote for the Republican Party, you vote for a Party that approves of firing rockets indiscriminately into civilian neighbourhoods and of sneak attacks on one’s neighbours. Bush et al didn’t even offer a toothless censure of Saakashvili for his aggression. Certainly, it puts a new spin on “The War on Terror” and the so-called Patriot Act, doesn’t it?
America has become an ugly country… it’s time for us to return to the Social Market domestic policies of the New Deal and to forgo all foreign military adventurism (by slashing “defence” spending to an absolute minimum)… it does nothing but kill the best of our youth and impoverish our country… all to line the pockets of uncaring and selfish fatcat oligarchs. Let’s stop supporting and egging on tyrants such as Saakashvili…
BMD
Voices From Russia, Too 
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