How Russia defines “cease fire.”

[WSJ] The day after Russia agreed to a French-brokered cease-fire, Russian troops followed by irregular fighters pushed deep into Georgia on Wednesday, seizing the strategic city of Gori and cutting the main highway that crosses the country to the capital Tbilisi. Russian troops on Wednesday also fanned into the countryside near Gori, where mainly Ossetian militias drove ethnic Georgians from their villages and burned houses, according to fleeing residents and witnesses from Human Rights Watch, the civil liberties group.

…Thick black plumes of smoke rose from Gori as panicked residents — including the doctors and patients of the local hospital — fled to Tbilisi in packed cars and minivans. Most locals had already abandoned Gori after it was heavily bombarded by Russian forces on Tuesday, just before President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia announced a cease-fire shortly before Mr. Sarkozy arrived to broker an agreement.

“The Russians are looting everything in sight. The whole city is full of marauders,” said Roland Bochiashvili as he left Gori. He said Russian Cossack volunteers were also in the city, in addition to the Ossetians, most of whom have been issued with Russian passports.