| Russia 'to pull out of Georgia by Friday' |
Published By: Mathew White
On Wednesday 20 August 2008 |
Russia has said its forces will leave Georgia for positions set out under a peace plan by Friday.
President Dmitry Medvedev has told French President Nicolas Sarkozy that most Russian forces would withdraw to Russia or to South Ossetia by August 22, leaving some troops in a buffer zone around the breakaway region.
Mr Medvedev also told Mr Sarkozy he agreed to the presence of observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the buffer zone, a separate French statement said.
The announcement came amid mounting Western criticism over the slow pace of Russia's troop withdrawal.
Washington said it had yet to see any serious pullout and accused Russia of targeting civilians and wanting to strangle Georgia.
At a Nato meeting being held in Brussels to discuss the crisis, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said of Russia: "It's becoming more and more the outlaw in this conflict. They intend and probably still do intend to strangle Georgia and its economy."
In Gori, a strategic town on Georgia's main east-west highway, six Russian armoured personnel carriers, three tanks and two other vehicles headed towards Russia in what Moscow has said is the start of its promised withdrawal.
But nearby other Russian troops were seen digging trenches near artillery positions.
In parts of western Georgia, far from the breakaway South Ossetia region at the heart of the conflict, Russian forces also showed no sign of preparing to depart.
Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband, in Tbilisi, said continued delays would seriously damage Moscow's reputation.
At a joint news conference with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili he said: "With every commitment (to leave) and with every failure to live up to that commitment, the international pressure will grow (on Russia).
"A country relies on the word of its president being its bond."
The US Treasury said Russia had hurt its business climate with its decision to send troops into Georgia, which it called a "Cold War tactic."
The crisis erupted on August 7-8 after Georgia sent its military to try to recapture the rebel, Moscow-backed province of South Ossetia and Russia responded with overwhelming force.
Nato ministers, meeting in emergency session in Brussels on Tuesday, agreed to suspend regular contacts with Russia.
But they did not announce moves to speed up Georgia's bid to join the Western military alliance, as Tbilisi had hoped.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Nato's response to the conflict was biased and accused the Atlantic alliance of siding with a "criminal regime" in Tbilisi.
