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Russia begins withdrawing troops from Georgia

RIA Novosti

18/08/2008 17:16 MOSCOW, August 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russia began pulling back troops from Georgia on Monday in accordance with a plan to resolve the South Ossetia conflict drawn up by the Russian and French presidents, a senior military official said.

"Today, in line with the peace plan, we have begun the pullback of Russian peacekeepers and their reinforcements," said Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian General Staff.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the French-brokered peace plan in Moscow on Saturday, the day after his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili signed it in Tbilisi.

The plan contains the main principles to resolve the conflict in South Ossetia, worked out at an August 12 meeting between Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

These six points of the plan are: renouncing the use of force; halting all military action; providing free access to humanitarian aid; the return of Georgian Armed Forces to their bases; the pullback of Russian Armed Forces to their positions prior to combat; and the start of international discussions on the future status of Georgia's two separatists republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and ways to ensure their security.

Georgia launched a major ground and air offensive to seize control of South Ossetia on August 8, prompting Russia to send tanks and thousands of troops to the region. Russia concluded its operation "to force Georgia to accept peace" on August 12.

Medvedev told Sarkozy over the phone Sunday that Russian troops would start their withdrawal from Georgia on Monday.

"Favorable conditions have been created to start the pullback of troops to designated areas. However, we are aware that Georgia is capable of provocation at any moment against both our troops and civilians," Nogovitsyn said.

He added that Russian peacekeepers had put out patrols all along the border between South Ossetia and Georgia and that a reinforced peacekeeping unit was taking security measures for the sake of South Ossetians.

Russian armored vehicles started to withdraw from the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali toward the Russian Republic of North Ossetia earlier Monday.