Families flee Grozny, leaving the old, poor behind

By Maria Eismont

GORAGORSKY ROAD, Western Chechnya, Russia, Dec 6 (Reuters) - A narrow road,

pocked with huge craters and winding along a steep ridge, is the last escape

route out of Grozny.

Families came out in small groups on Monday, mostly on foot, with a few cars

shooting past each hour. They told of a city in a quiet state of terror,

preparing for an apocalypse that Russia has promised to unleash in five days'

time leaving no one alive.

Taisa, 37, said most of the civilians trapped in the city were elderly ethnic

Russians who, unlike Chechens, lacked large extended families who could help

them escape.

``When the Russian soldiers enter the city, most of the corpses will be

Russian. They will not tell anybody of that.''

Those able to had set about gathering their belongings to flee, the families

who had fled the Chechen capital said. But many, especially the elderly and

poor, remained trapped, unsure of how to leave or where to go.

Taisa said she had offered to help her elderly Russian neighbour to flee.

``She said she would stay behind because she was too tired to flee.... 'If

God wills it, we will live,' she told me. I left her all the food and water

we had. What could I do?''

Zarema, a mother of several children, came from Alkhan-Yurt, a village on

Grozny's outskirts captured by Russian troops over the weekend after fierce

fighting.

She said the fields beside the highways leading out of Grozny were littered

with corpses.

``Everywhere we travelled we could see lots of bodies. People who were trying

to escape had been shot from the air by planes or helicopters. There was no

time to do anything but leave (the bodies) there.''

Her husband and eldest son had stayed to fight, she said.

THE COUNTDOWN HAS STARTED

Russia announced its ultimatum in leaflets dropped over the city on Monday

that left little to the imagination.

``You are surrounded, all roads to Grozny are blocked. You have no chance of

winning,'' the leaflets read.

``Those who remain will be viewed as terrorists and bandits. They will be

destroyed by artillery and aviation. There will be no more talks. All those

who do not leave the city will be destroyed.

``The countdown has started.''

Oleg, 31, said he had brought with him an elderly Russian woman he had found

sitting by a road.

``I said, 'Grandma, don't you want to leave?' She said, 'How can I? The buses

take up to 30 roubles per person, the taxi costs hundreds. I haven't got any

money.'

``I told her, get in the car. All I can promise is that if I live, you will

live. She came with me.''

Tens of thousands of civilians remain in the Chechen capital, which Russian

troops surrounded over the weekend.

By Monday evening, a little more than a hundred had made their way out down

this road, most on foot, carrying belongings or trailing small children.

Russia has promised the road will become a safe passage corridor until

Saturday. But for the past week, few have been able to escape on roads under

constant bombardment.

>From where this correspondent was standing on Monday bombing could be heard

to the south, near the town of Urus Martan, a key rebel stronghold that

Russians say they have surrounded.

Skies were clear and the weather calm. Windows shook in nearby houses along

with each burst of explosions.