Georgians Blame Russia for Fires in Beloved Preserve

Damage from one of at least six fires reported Aug. 15 that burned for 24 days in and around Georgia's popular Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park. (By Temo Bardzimashvili For The Washington Post)

"They know that this place is the treasure of the country," said Natia Muladze, senior specialist of visitor services there. "Borjomi was full of Russians during the Soviet times, and they wanted to destroy the things which they could not take."

To Georgians, the Russian offense was not only in setting the fires, but also in refusing to guarantee the safety of firefighting planes from Ukraine and Azerbaijan. That allowed the blaze to spread, said Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili. "Otherwise, one helicopter could have put it out initially," he said. Turkish planes eventually received safe passage from the Russians and helped douse the flames.

Police found a mysterious three-inch metal sphere at the scene but little physical evidence of what started the fires, Utiashvili said, adding that the temperature of the blaze had likely destroyed it. But he said the helicopters must have been Russian, because no Georgian helicopters were flying at the time, and the armed forces of the pro-Russian separatist zone, South Ossetia, do not have helicopters. He theorized that the fires could have been started accidentally, by hot devices that military helicopters drop to divert heat-seeking missiles, or deliberately, to flush out Georgian military forces thought to be hiding in the forest.

In Tsagveri, villagers said another possible reason could have been a statement by South Ossetia leader Eduard Kokoity that Borjomi and a nearby ski resort area, Bakuriani, were rightfully part of South Ossetia because in the 20th century, Ossetians moved into some villages in the area.

Dali Kasashvili, 48, an ethnic Ossetian who lives in the village of Mzetamze, said neither she nor any of the 27 Ossetian families living around her had an interest in separating from Georgia. "South Ossetia is historically a part of Georgia, and the idea of South Ossetia being independent is absurd for me," she said. "They are creating something which did not exist before. . . . Personally, I don't know anyone who wants it."

In addition to lost trees and damaged topsoil, park officials say the fires affected endangered animals such as reindeer, salamander, lynx and brown bear. But it is perhaps Georgia's image as an attractive -- and safe -- destination for hikers and vacationers that will be hardest to recover.

"The Department of Tourism has done a lot to improve the image of Georgia," Muladze said, adding that separatist wars here in the early 1990s, as well as conflict in neighboring Chechnya, gave the region a bad name. "In 2002, 2003, there was still an image of the Caucasus as a war area. We know it's really hard to get rid of this image."