From Poti, a town under Russian occupation

We managed to make contact with our Observer in Poti, blogger Samira Kuznetsova. She tells us about the atmosphere in Poti, a Georgian port on the Black Sea occupied by Russian forces. According to her, and contrary to rumours, the Russians did not loot the town.

A humanitarian mission of the US Navy could be docking in Poti in the coming days.

"They go wherever they want, without a look for people around them."

Samira’s comment reached us this morning.

All is calm right now. There’s no looting, nothing. But the Russian troops are still here. They’re destroying military infrastructure. Just before that, they toured the town and the port but they weren’t aggressive. They go wherever they want without even a look for the people around them, who stay at good distance.

The population is coming back to Poti. The banks and offices are still closed, but some stores are reopening. The port is open and ships get unloaded.

I don’t know if the Russians are planning to stay. They looked as if they were going to leave and then they came back. Right now, they’re on the road just outside the town’s entrance. And I saw helicopters fly by.

The police are still here. And the mayor, too. He is trying to calm people. He tells them not to worry when they hear explosions. He says he asked the Russians to bomb a war boat at sea so as not to frighten his constituents.

There are rumours on the Internet according to which Russians are looting the town. But it’s not true, it wouldn’t be in their interest to behave like that.