Russian soldiers in Gori area
Photo: Reuters
US: Russia should withdraw from Georgia without delay
Is Russia violating truce deal? White House calls on Moscow to withdraw forces 'without delay'; earlier, Russia said pullout underway, but observers say no movement detected
The White House said on Monday that Russia, as promised, should withdraw its forces from Georgia "without delay."
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe, in Texas where President George W. Bush is at his ranch, said the United States continues to monitor the situation. The Russians have said they would withdraw their forces and that should be achieved "without delay," he said.
Russia said its troops began withdrawing from the conflict zone in Georgia on Monday, including the strategic central city of Gori, "according to the peace plan" that sought to end fighting has reignited Cold War tensions.
However, Georgian and international observers later said there were no signs of withdrawal on the ground.
Appeal
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But Nogovitsyn told a briefing that "today, according to the peace plan, the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers and reinforcements has begun." He added that forces were leaving Gori, a stratgically key city that sits on Georgia's only significant east-west road.
According to the European Union-brokered peace plan signed by both Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, both sides are to pull forces back to the positions they held before last week's outbreak of war in the Russian-backed Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia.
Nogovitsyn said the Russian troops were going to South Ossetia and a security zone defined by a 1999 agreement of the "joint control commission" that had been nominally in charge of South Ossetia's status since it split from Georgia in the early 1990s. Georgian and Russian officials could not immediately clarify the dimensions of the security zone.
The agreement also provides for unspecified extra security measures such as patrol rights for the Russians, who now control a wide swath of Georgia.
Russia is certain to keep some troops in South Ossetia — which wants to separate from Georgia — and the region's president Eduard Kokoity on Monday asked Russia to establish a permanent base there, the agency said.
US to rethink relationship with Russia
Top American officials said Washington would rethink its relationship with Moscow after its military drive deep into its much smaller neighbor and called for a swift Russian withdrawal."I think there needs to be a strong, unified response to Russia to send the message that this kind of behavior, characteristic of the Soviet period, has no place in the 21st century," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday.
But neither Gates nor Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would be specific about what punitive actions the US or the international community might take.
Rice, who is flying to Europe on Monday to talk with NATO allies about what message the West should send to Russia, said Russia can't use "disproportionate force" against its neighbor and still be welcomed into the halls of international institutions.
"It's not going to happen that way," she said. "Russia will pay a price."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Medvedev of "serious consequences" in Moscow's relations with the European Union if Russia does not comply with the cease-fire accord.
Russian troops in deserted Georgian base (Photo: AP)
The war broke out after Georgia launched a barrage to try to retake control of South Ossetia, a Russian-backed separatist region that split off in the early 1990s. Russia had peacekeeping forces in South Ossetia and sent in thousands of reinforcements immediately, driving out Georgian forces. Georgian troops also were driven out of the small portion they had held of another separatist region, Abkhazia, although there are contradictory claims of whether Russians or their separatist allies took part in that fighting.
Russian troops also took positions deep into Georgia, including Gori, which is about 50 miles from the capital, Tbilisi, and in the Black Sea port of Poti. They also began a campaign to disable the Georgian military, destroying or carting away large caches of military equipment. An AP photographer saw Russian troops Sunday with rows of captured Georgian military vehicles in Tskhinvali, the capital of separatist South Ossetia.
140,000 refugees
Bolstered by Western support, Georgia's leader vowed never to abandon its claim to territory now firmly in the hands of Russia and its separatist allies, even though he has few means of asserting control. His pledge, echoed by Western insistence that Georgia must not be broken apart, portends further tension over separatist South Ossetia and Abkhazia.Still, it's clear that Russia is determined to maintain a long-term presence in the two separatist areas.
The New York Times, citing anonymous US officials who were familiar with intelligence reports, reported Sunday that the Russian military moved missile launchers into South Ossetia on Friday.
The US officials told the Times that Russia deployed several SS-21 missile launchers to positions north of Tskhinvali. That would put the missiles within range of Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, the Times reported on its Web site.
Russian peacekeepers were also in control of a Georgian power plant Sunday near Abkhazia.
In Gori, there were signs of a looser Russian grip — but also scenes of desperation as Georgians crowded around aid vehicles and grasped for loaves of bread. Virtually all shops were closed and the streets almost empty, save for clusters of people who gathered around aid vehicles and a basement bakery.
"I wouldn't say there's a humanitarian catastrophe, but there's an urgent need for primary products," Georgian national security council head Alexander Lomaia told journalists Monday on the outskirts of Gori.
Russian troops inspected a Georgian humanitarian aid vehicle Monday before allowing it to enter Gori.
Georgia's government minister for refugees, Koba Subeliani, said there were 140,000 displaced people in Tbilisi and the surrounding area.
