A report on the Russian soldiers occupying Georgia:

Gori – Sitting in the shade of their tank blocking the road into Gori, six bored Russian soldiers kill time by smoking cigarettes given by journalists hoping to bribe their way into the city. Blowing out smoke with blank faces, they try to relax in the stifling heat and finally submit to questioning on how they feel about being so deep in Georgian territory. “We are so bored,” says one soldier in a coarse Russian dialect, who like all the others refuses to give his name, saying it’s a military secret. “But when are we going to leave? Or else give us the order to go to the Black Sea,” says another, referring to the famed beaches of Georgia’s western coast, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) away. “Guys, let’s take the tank, invade the rest of the country and go and do some swimming!” he adds. Amid the smiles, the young soldiers admit to liking the wine and food that once helped make Georgia the Soviet Union’s favourite holiday destination. “All we need is some girls. They’re pretty here, eh?” says a third soldier, his cap pulled down with a machine gun slung over his shoulder.

And those pesky journalists:

“We ask ourselves what we’re doing here. Since we arrived, the only face-to-face we’ve had is with the media,” he adds, cutting a peach with his knife.
In the background, the mysterious comings and goings of armoured vehicles continues.
For a week, this strategic city 60 kilometres from Tbilisi has been controlled by Russian forces who have blocked the main arterial road that runs through it linking the capital Tbilisi with the west.
Only aid convoys and some Georgian officials are allowed through and they are searched. The city is closed to journalists hoping to enter from Georgian-controlled territory.
“You journalists, we have to tell you ‘no’ a million times a day and you still come back,” says a soldier.
“Don’t you get fed up of being here every day? Why don’t you just leave?”
But every day it is the same scene: dozens of foreign journalists gather at the checkpoint awaiting evidence that a promised Russian pullout from Georgia is taking place.