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A piece updating the repair work on the rail bridge outside of Gori that was destroyed by Russian troops last week, as well as an overview as to how key incidents have effectively crippled the Georgian economy.
WOLF
BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Russia says its forces will pull
back to a buffer zone in the Republic of Georgia by
tomorrow evening. But those troops are still seen on
the roads outside of key cities. They've also dug in
near Georgia's main port. And they can control the
flow of oil -- giving Russia a potential stranglehold
over the country.
And given a $5 jump in the price of oil only today,
that helps Russia put the squeeze on the West.
CNN's Michael Ware is outside the Georgian city of
Gori.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Like
this mess of iron and concrete on a rail bridge that
regularly bore millions of barrels of oil headed to
port, Georgia and its economy have been crippled by
Moscow's occupation.
Whilst Russian units dominate just a third of the
country, says Georgia's president, and mostly in
pro-Russian enclaves the Kremlin says it invaded to
protect from Georgian military assault, the Russian
soldiers' deployment inside undisputed Georgian
territory has given them command of the core of the
country's infrastructure, rendering Tbilisi's
pro-American government unable to function as it
wants -- its police and army units like these no
match for Moscow's might; its financial lifeline
damaged -- reducing a country the size of America's
South Carolina to a nation divided, which Georgia's
national security adviser alleges was orchestrated
for strategic economic effect.
ALEXANDER LOMAIA, GEORGIAN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER:
They're trying to gain control of alternative
pipelines and energy routes delivering central Asian
and Azerbaijani gas and oil to the European markets
through Georgia.
WARE: It's a claim Moscow would surely deny,
asserting, as it has done since the conflict's
beginning, that its military invaded for humanitarian
reasons in defense of Russian civilians under
Georgian assault in small northern enclaves. But what
cannot be denied is that Russian checkpoints and
armor beyond those enclaves has Russian commanders in
control of Georgia's principal highway and able to
disrupt the Georgian seaport of Poti on the Black Sea
coast and threatens Georgia's transit of oil.
(on camera): And key to that transit is this oil
pumping station just west of the capital -- a
facility essential to the Georgian economy. From
here, the crude oil courses through underground
pipelines that skirt South Ossetia and the heart of
the conflict zone. Just a short distance up this
valley sit Russian tanks and what is currently the
front line of the Russian occupation.
(voice-over): Further south from that front line, far
from the combat, this line of craters marches across
pipelines buried in the soil beneath. And while the
bombings have stopped, the impact of the invasion
persists -- with promised withdrawal yet to
eventuate.
(on camera): The Russian military's occupation
maintains its stranglehold on Georgia's economic
infrastructure. Those checkpoints keep the road
severed and the oil pipelines are still not operating
at full capacity. But the Georgians are fighting
back.
When this rail line carrying oil to the ports was
blown less than a week ago, these workers moved in,
laboring feverishly to lay new lines on an old
bridge. But with all the work being carried out under
the gaze of Russian armor on the ridge behind us,
there's no suggestion that any of this is going to
change any time soon.
Michael Ware, CNN, on the outskirts of
Gori.