Major Markovich, who suffered burns to his arms and a spinal injury, had nothing but praise for his captors, who had treated him excellently from the outset. "This is an absurd situation," he said. "For thousands of years Russians and Georgians have been living together and now we have war and innocent people are dying. It was all started by politicians and I don't understand why."
War is absurd, says Russian pilot shot down over Georgia
By Shaun Walker in Tbilisi
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Most of the patients in the labyrinthine Gudushauri Hospital on the eastern outskirts of Tbilisi are being treated for injuries suffered during the Russian invasion, with more than 600 people admitted in the past few days.
But in one corridor, sealed off by eight black-clad guards armed with Kalashnikov rifles, there were two patients very different from the rest.
Vyacheslav Markovich and Igor Zinov were not fleeing from the Russian attack, they were leading it. On 9 August, their planes were hit by anti-aircraft fire, forcing them to eject and parachute to the ground. Georgia claims to have destroyed 15 planes during the conflict, killing two Russian pilots and capturing a further two during the first days of the conflict.
Georgia intends to negotiate with Russia to exchange them for captured Georgian soldiers, the Interior Ministry said.
The Russian patients said they were being treated well. Both are bed-bound and are held in separate rooms, although their guards have kept them updated on the progress of the war.
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