Parliament Speaker commemorates “Shindisi heroes” killed in 2008 war with Russia on anniversary of battle

Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday commemorated a group of Georgian soldiers who lost their lives in an unequal engagement with Russian forces in central Georgia’s Shindisi village during the 2008 war between the two states by saying “our future generation grows up on the story of Shindisi’s heroes”.

Our future generation grows up on the story of the Shindisi heroes. Their love and sacrifice for their motherland is the strength of our country’s unification. I bow before them. Glory and eternal memory to the heroes”, Papuashvili said.

In the engagement on August 11, 2008, a 21-member detachment of Georgian soldiers came face-to-face with Russian troops in the village of Shindisi on the fourth day after the start of the conflict. 

Being greatly outnumbered, they were ordered to surrender by the Russian troops but issued a strong refusal and inflicted significant losses on the enemy in a 45-minute subsequent uneven battle that also left 17 of the 21 Georgian servicemembers killed.

The war between Russia and Georgia took the lives of 169 servicemembers and professionals of the Ministry of Defence, along with 19 employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and 224 civilians. 

Around 30,000 citizens of Georgia were forced to abandon their homes in the now-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.