Events in South Ossetia remind Chechnya residents of their recent past

The start of broad-scale warfare between Georgia and South Ossetia has reminded Chechen residents of the tragedy in the mid and late 1990s came to Chechnya. In the opinion of many people, no country leaders' intentions and plans are worth a single human life.

"It was in the morning only that I've learnt about the start of a big war between Georgia and South Ossetia. It is a huge dangerous for the whole Caucasus, since the situation can follow any scenario and blow up the whole region," an employee of one of local power agencies told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "I'm strongly convinced that no even brightest aims, such as seek for independence, creation of one's own state, etc., aren't worth a drop of human blood. Anyhow, war means tragedy. It's blood, it's death and tears, thousands of refugees and complete absence of any prospects. I wish Georgians and Ossetians to agree and stop this madness until it's too late."

"I watched on TV the pictures of bombarding Tskhinvali from cannons and 'Grad' installations, and I remembered at once what we had lived through in winter of 2000 in Grozny. I can imagine the horror of women, children and old men, forced to search rescue from shelling in cellars and shelters. I hope Georgian and Ossetian mothers won't have to shed tears for deaths of their sons. Wars are launched by politicians, but our children die there first of all," said Aibika Alsultanova, 56, a resident of Grozny, who had lost three sons and two nephews during the two military campaigns in Chechnya.