Russia has surrendered the buffer zones it seized during the first days of peace, but it will retain combat troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazi Photo: AFP/GETTY, (Photo from The Telegraph)Russia Completes Withdrawal From Georgia Buffer Zones -- AFP
KARALETI, Georgia (AFP) — Russian forces completed a withdrawal from buffer zones around Georgia's rebel regions Wednesday, two months after a war over South Ossetia poisoned relations between Moscow and the West.
Russia abandoned positions around the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said. "They have withdrawn from all of the buffer zones."
"The last column with technical equipment and weapons crossed the border at 8:30 pm Moscow time (1630 GMT)," the Ria Novosti news agency quoted Marat Kulakhmetov, the head of Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia, as saying.
The withdrawal came well ahead of the Friday deadline required by a peace plan brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, current holder of the EU presidency.
At talks in France with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Sarkozy said the withdrawal paved the way for talks to resume on an "ambitious" EU-Russia partnership agreement put on hold last month in protest at Russia's actions.
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More News On Georgia And The Russian Withdrawl
Russia, Georgia disagree over troop pullback -- Yahoo News/AP
Grim reminders as Russian troops leave -- BBC News
Russian troops out of Georgia buffer zones -- Reuters
Russia promises to withdraw all troops from Georgian territory -- Telegraph
Russia completes troop pullout from S.Ossetia buffer zone -- RIA Novosti
My Comment: The EU has accepted the partition of Georgia. This is not going to bring peace to the Caucasus.
1 comment:
The Russians hold their end of the bargain. Now lets see if Georgians will hold theirs and leave the Ossetians and Abkhasians alone. I also wonder if the West will ever admit that they overreacted to the russian response to the georgian attack and called this war "russian aggression".
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