Русская версияWestern allies of Georgian leader Mikhail Saakashvili upped the
pressure on Russia to start the promised pullout of combat troops
from Georgia on Monday, Aug.
18. Moscow's plan to retain Russian
"peacekeepers" in the embattled Caucasus provinces sparked new
tension in Russia's relations with the European Union and United
States.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel assured Saakashvili in Tbilisi that
NATO remained ready to give membership to the ex-Soviet republic,
as promised at a NATO summit in April, despite the conflict with
Russia.
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In a visit, Merkel offered Saakashvili support
"Georgia will become a member of NATO if it wants to -- and it does
want to," Merkel said on Sunday.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Russia of acting in
bad faith in the past. On US television she said the country's
reputation was "in tatters."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, writing in the newspaper
Le Figaro
, demanded Russia pull out of Georgia "immediately" and said the
point was "not negotiable."
Plan to install peacekeepers is disputed
With a ceasefire holding, President Dmitry Medvedev assured Sarkozy
on Sunday that Russian regular forces "from tomorrow... will begin
withdrawing."
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Sarkozy says a pullout is "non-negotiable"
However, new tensions gathered over Russia's longer-term military
plans in the small but strategically located ex-Soviet republic.
Russia plans to deploy a peacekeeping force of unspecified size
that Georgian officials worry could turn into an open-ended
occupation.
"There is no such notion any more in Georgia as Russian
peacekeepers," Saakashvili said at a press conference with Merkel.
"There can be no Russian peacekeepers -- these are just Russian
forces."
Russian troops on Monday were still holding positions about 35
kilometers (20 miles) north of Tbilisi, and near the Georgian
cities of Poti and Senaki on the Black Sea coast.
Rice: Russia's reputation 'in tatters'
The Georgian government has accused the Russians of acting in bad
faith in the past, given a mere three kilometer retreat on
Thursday.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had
planned to meet Monday to discuss a plan to send 100 extra
observers to Georgia, according to the body's Finnish chairman
Alexander Stubb.
Rice meanwhile pressured Russia to live up to its promises under
the EU-brokered ceasefire.
"Russia overreached, used disproportionate force against a small
neighbor and is now paying the price," Rice told NBC television's
Meet the Press. "Russia's reputation as a potential partner in
international institutions, diplomatic, political, security,
economic, is frankly, in tatters."
South Ossetia leader dissolves government
The ceasefire deal is meant to conclude a five-day conflict in
which Russian forces drove off a Georgian army assault overnight on
Aug. 7 against Moscow-backed separatists in the breakaway region of
South Ossetia.
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Russian soldiers are still in Georgia
In South Ossetia itself, President Eduard Kokoity late Sunday
dismissed his government and proclaimed a state of emergency in the
rebel region, Russia's Vesti-24 television reported.
"I have signed three decrees including one on the resignation of
the government, another on proclamation of a state of emergency in
South Ossetia and the third on setting up an emergency committee to
settle the consequences of the Georgian aggression," Kokoity told
the channel.
Conflicting information on Russian troops
In Gori, a Russian-occupied town beyond South Ossetia, the
commanding general said a switch from regular troops had already
begun.
"The Russian troops are starting to pull out and Russian
peacekeepers are coming in," Gen. Vyacheslav Borisov told AFP.
A reporter with the AFP news service reported seeing a long column
of Russian vehicles, including about 25 tanks and 25 armored
personnel carriers, parked outside Gori
(Deutsche Welle)
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