Georgia in crisis as war brews over South Ossetia

An administrator waves the Georgian flag from a window in Gori’s City Hall after Russian troops left the city. Though Russian troops have left, the city is being picked over by Georgian security forces for mines, booby traps and cluster bombs. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Four Ossetians who were part of a prisoner exchange at a hospital in Gori, Georgia, sit on a bus. In the swap, five Ossetians were exchanged with five Georgian military officers. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

An Ossetian was held by Georgian militia and was part of a prisoner exchange at a hospital in Gori. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Two Russian flags and a South Ossetian one fly at a patriotic concert in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. A Russian orchestra, led by renowned Ossetian Russian conductor Valery Gergiyev, performed. We are here today to express our admiration for you, to tell the whole world that we want it to know the truth about the horrible events in Tskhinvali, Gergiyev said. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Georgia in Crisis - Residents of Tskhinvali

Residents of Tskhinvali and Russian soldiers attend the concert. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A woman in the Jewish Quarter of Tskhinvali hangs her laundry. Some of the buildings were damaged in fighting between South Ossetia and Georgia in 1993. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A South Ossetian soldier jostles with a man at a rally in Tskhinvali. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A woman weeps in a burned-out building in the village of Karaleti just north of Gori, Georgia. Many buildings in the village were damaged in recent fighting. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A portrait of Stalin hangs in a damaged school in the village of Khetagurouo outside Tskhinvali, South Ossetia. There were conflicting reports about responsibility, with some saying Georgians attacked the town. Evidence at the scene, including discarded Georgian rations, suggested that it was a defensive position for the Georgian army, which was overrun by Russian forces and air attacks. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Russian soldiers attend a concert in Tskhinvali. Russian officials have made clear that they do not plan on leaving South Ossetia and some parts of Georgia proper. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A building in the Georgian village of Karaleti just north of Gori. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Tskhinvali is seen through a damaged wall. The overlook is part of a Russian peacekeeping base that was attacked by Georgian troops. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Russian tanks and armored personnel carriers sit parked on the highway outside of Gori, where Russian troops maintained positions around the central Georgian city. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

One of 13 Georgian prisoners and two civilians that were exchanged for five Russian prisoners is embraced after arriving at the Gudushauri Hospital in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Relatives await their chance to visit with some of the Georgian prisoners who were exchanged on the Tbilisi-to-Gori highway on Tuesday morning. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Giorgi Ramazahshvili embraces his nephew after arriving at the Gudushauri Hospital. Despite the exchange for prisoners in central Georgia, reports from western Georgia say the Russian army took a number of Georgian soldiers prisoner in the city of Poti on the Black Sea. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Georgian soldiers carry the caskets of seven soldiers who died fighting the Russians in South Ossetia and central Georgia. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A Georgian soldier respectfully tosses a handful of dirt atop each of the seven coffins at a cemetery on the outskirts of Tbilisi. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Relatives and friends of Sheklashivili Ilia, 25, who died fighting in Gori, drink and pour homemade wine in his honor atop his grave. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Relatives and friends of Ilia, including his father, left, weep during his funeral on Tuesday afternoon. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Russian soldiers guard a checkpoint at the southern border of the breakaway republic of Abkhazia in western Georgia. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Life in western Georgia continues as normal despite a Russian occupation of the region. Unlike Gori in the central part of the country, there is relatively minor damage to the western half of the country near the Abkhazi border. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A group of men chats outside in Abkhazia, western Georgia, which has relatively minor damage compared with Gori. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Western Georgia: A Russian soldier at a Georgian military base

A Russian soldier peers over the wall of a Georgian military base that the Russians are occupying in western Georgia. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Gori, Georgia: Elderly woman collects firewood

An elderly woman carries firewood through the ruined streets of Gori as wary residents began to emerge from their homes and inspect the damage to the city and look for aid and food. Russian troops remained entrenched in and around the central Georgian city, and were stationed at all points of entry. But Moscow announced that it would begin pulling its troops back on Monday. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Gori, Georgia: Wary residents examine their plight and city

A resident of Gori describes the Russian bombing campaign that devastated her neighborhood. Russian forces remained entrenched in the city and had set up strategic posts along Georgia’s main road. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

The northern neighborhoods of Gori were damaged heavily in Russian bombing of Georgia, residents say. This woman said three people were still buried in the ruins of the apartment block behind her. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

An apartment block in Gori lies abandoned and ruined after being hammered by Russian military fire. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Family photographs are left in the rubble of a ruined apartment block near the eastern edge of Gori. Russia’s withdrawal announcement made no mention of its intentions in Georgia’s breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A Russian armored personnel carrier makes its way down the principal boulevard in Gori, Russia has said it will pull troops beginning Monday, but not how fast or far back they will retreat. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A column of armored personnel carriers make their way down the main east-west highway in Georgia. The strategic route was split by Russians when they occupied Gori. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Residents of the beleaguered city of Gori cautiously ventured out of their homes even though Russian troops remained in the Georgian city. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A bystander waves to a man fleeing his village outside Gori that according to witnesses was ransacked and attacked by Russian troops Wednesday afternoon despite a cease fire. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Residents displaced by the conflict are reflected in the windows of the old Ministry of Finance building in central Tbilisi. After days of being homeless, they received aid from the United States Department of Defense. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Georgians hold multiple funerals at a cemetery in Tbilisi. Russian bloggers commenting on the conflict were angered by depictions of Russia as the aggressor. Said one: “We completely lost the media war both in the West and at home.” (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A woman waiting for aid after fleeing her village near Gori yells at security officials outside the Ministry of Refugees and Settlement building in Tbilisi. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A young resident of Gori wears goggles given to him by a Russian soldier. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Women scramble for bags of food on the outskirts of Gori in central Georgia. Relief supplies reached the besieged region Saturday afternoon. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)