UNITS OF armed Cossacks from across the North Caucasus region bordering Georgia were poised yesterday to join the battle for the separatists' capital, Tskhinvali.
In North Ossetia, lists of men willing to fight against Georgian forces were drawn up. Vitaly Khubayev (35), from the capital, Vladikavkaz, told this reporter: "There are already two busloads of fighters leaving for Tskhinvali every day. They give you a uniform on the way and you get issued with weapons once you arrive. If I didn't have three children I'd have gone."
The two Ossetias are historically inseparable and residents of the northern republic were furious yesterday at what they described as the "Georgian fascist attack" on their neighbours.
Many said they were willing to take up arms and travel to defend their relatives across the border in South Ossetia. Valentin Tekhti (67), a teacher, said: "Our Ossetian brothers are dying. If we get the call, every man who can stand on two legs will go to fight."
Under Russian law, Cossacks - the descendants of runaway serfs and outlaws who in the past were employed to protect the country's southern border - are allowed to bear arms and carry out policing functions in co-operation with interior ministry forces.
In Volgograd yesterday the leader of the Don Cossacks, Viktor Vodolatsky, called on all Cossacks under 40 to volunteer. Reports said 100 men from the region had already left for Tskhinvali.
"We must help our South Ossetian brothers," he said.
Irregular troops from the north Caucasus played an important role in the conflicts that saw both Georgia's breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, secede in the early 1990s.
In Abkhazia, Cossack and Chechen units fought side by side against Georgian troops, despite being historical enemies. Abkhazia has promised to help South Ossetia in its conflict with Georgia.
Ossetians in Vladikavkaz yesterday said they were hoping for a decisive strike by the Russian army to drive Georgia's forces out of South Ossetia. Shota Kochiev (60), said: "This is America's doing. They are supporting Georgia's mad lust for new land - our land."
About 2,000 refugees from South Ossetia, mostly women and children, have so far been bussed to Russia and are staying in hotels around Vladikavkaz. - (Guardian service)