Русская версияRussian tanks and troops withdrew Friday, Aug.
22, from Georgian
territory to let Georgian police regain control of the region.
"The pullback of Russian troops and units passed without incident
and was completed on time," Russian Defense Minister Anatoly
Serdyukov said in a statement, according to AFP news service.
"Thus, the Russian side has fulfilled ist obligations."
The Georgian government confirmed Friday that Russia has pulled
some troops out of key cities but is still manning checkpoints.
"It is not true that the withdrawal is complete," Georgian
government spokesman Shota Utiashvili told reporters.
As a result, US President George W. Bush and French President
Nicolas Sarkozy, who currently holds the EU presidency, called on
Russia to "continue and complete" its withdrawal from Georgia.
No compliance?
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Bush spoke with Sarkozy on the phone
"We are not seeing that they are in compliance right now," Gordon
Johndroe, a White House spokesman, said in Crawford, Texas, where
Bush is vacationing. "They have not completely withdrawn from areas
considered undisputed territory. And they need to do that."
Bush spoke on the telephone with Sarkozy, who brokered the
ceasefire agreement between Russia and Georgia on Aug. 11. But
Russia has continued to position soldiers outside of the breakaway
regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and deep into Georgian
territory.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also said that he was
"deeply concerned" by Russia's failure to completely withdraw from
Georgia.
Georgia
wants international peacekeepers
Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili meanwhile called for
international peacekeepers in the conflict zone around the
country's two breakaway provinces, Georgian media reported.
"The preservation of Georgia's territorial integrity is impossible
without an internationalization of the peacekeeping troops,"
Saakashvili said at a meeting of the country's national security
council late Friday.
But the breakaway regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia are opposed to
an international peacekeeping force, currently being discussed by
the European Union.
Russian forces have retreated from the central Georgian city Gori,
but continued to control access to the important Black Sea port
Poti and other cities in western Georgia and Abkhazia, Saakashvili
said.
Caught by surprise
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Saakashvili got more than he bargained for
Moscow said Friday that despite its withdrawal from
central Georgia, its forces would remain in buffer zones around
South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Saakashvili admitted that he had been surprised by the scale of
Russia's response despite his own warnings of Russia's aggression.
"I could not have imagined that it would be such a big invasion,"
he was quoted as saying.
Some analysts say Saakashvili provoked the Kremlin by attacking
South Ossetia, which is under Russian protection.
(Deutsche Welle)
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