The brunt of the material problems are born by mothers particularly those with small or newly-born children, who have to worry about malnutrition, Taisa said

AKHMATI, Georgia, February 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Some 4,000 Chechen refugees in Georgia's perilous Pankisi Gorge are pressing to be moved to a third country, worn down by their dire living conditions but above all fearful of possible Russian bombing raids.

Fears of Russian military crackdown against alleged Chechen stronghold are rife among the refugees, and many of them have applied to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR to be moved to another country, their chief spokesman Aslambek Abdurzakov said on Friday, February 14.

Many refugees believe a U.S. invasion of Iraq will trigger Russian bombardments on Pankisi, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

One refugee, Esma, was confident: "If there's war in Iraq, that's it: the Russians will attack."

Russia has threatened direct military action across its border into northern Georgia to clear out what it regards as a rebel Chechen rear base.

Earlier this month, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov claimed that despite Georgian denials, “illegal” Chechen groups were still operating in the Akhmati region.

Though Moscow has officially denied launching raids on the Pankisi Gorge, refugees remember a raid by Russian warplanes last autumn in which one person was killed and several others were wounded.

Another of the many rife rumors in the Pankisi Gorge is that despite reassurances by the Georgian authorities, Chechen refugees may be forcibly repatriated to their homeland, said Abdurzakov, who was among tens of thousands of Chechens who fled their homes when Russian troops invaded Chechnya in October 1999.

offered between the conflict of 1994-96, which ended with a Russian withdrawal from Chechnya, and the current conflict, he added.

"There has been some improvement in conditions since last summer, but the basic problems remain," noted Abdurzakov.

Fear and uncertainty for the future are the daily lot of refugees in the Pankisi region, some 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of Tbilisi, as are the harsh living conditions.

Three thousand of them live at Duisi, a small town at the entrance to the Gorge, crammed into small rooms with no electricity and bad water, said refugee Taisa.

Families receive a ration every two months of 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of flour, 1.2 kilograms of sugar, 3.6 kilograms of beans and 1.5 kilograms of cooking oil, she said.

They receive no financial assistance and are unable to work, she stressed.

Local officials at one point discussed the possibility of giving the refugees small plots of land to cultivate, but this was later ruled out.

The brunt of the material problems are born by mothers, Taisa said, particularly those with small or newly-born children, who have to worry about malnutrition.

Those with older children worry that they see only images of war, and play only games of war, she stressed, adding that children receive some schooling, but school text books are few.

The men are subject to constant checks by Georgian security guards, who see them as potential rebel fighters, she said.

Illness and depression are endemic, particularly given that many of the families have been living in a war situation for most of the past decade, with no rehabilitation

A relief worker with one of the international aid agencies attempting to alleviate the conditions of the refugees noted that many had moved on recently to other countries in the region, mainly Armenia.