Vitaly Khripun, a warrant officer, who took his contract service in South Ossetia and in December 2009 deserted to the territory of Georgia, is now living in Tbilisi, waiting for awarding him a refugee status. He told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that he felt no regret of leaving his post and explained the reasons of his decision and described the general situation in the border.

When describing his service in South Ossetia, Mr Khripun said: "There, frontier guards aren't engaged in cutting short any Georgia's actions; instead, they hold psychological treatment of the population. Actually, residents of Sinagur village are indignant with deployment of Russian militaries in their territory, but fear to express their feelings. How can you do it to a man with firearms?"

As to the armaments as such, according to the warrant officer, Russian mobile groups possess a huge arsenal. According to his story, there is no heavy firepower equipment, but if needed it can arrive there quite shortly." Vitaly Khripun has noted with reference to his former colleagues that frontier guards in Dzhava have Russian "Grad" mounts (volley fire installations).

He also asserts that "soldiers have plenty of extra ammunition," and he heard "hints that everything may happen."