Tbilisi - Russian military forces on Sunday were showing few
signs of falling back from positions deep in Georgia, as US President
George W Bush and German chancellor Angela Merkel called on the
Kremlin to honour a ceasefire stipulating they leave.
Russian infantry backed by armoured personnel carriers and tanks
were digging in on the banks of the Lekhura River, having fallen back
some three kilometres from the village Igoeti on Saturday.
The army checkpoint was the most forward Russian element in
Georgia, some 30 kilometres from the Georgian capital Tbilisi.
Russian troops were not interfering with local residents but
halting all traffic moving on the Tblisi-Gori highway. Prior to
evacuating Igoeti, Russian combat engineers blew up a Georgian
railroad bridge in the vicinity, villagers said.
Georgian police and army troops were keeping a minimum five
kilometres' distance from the Russians. With most Georgian security
personnel resting in the shade, there was little evidence of a
coherent Georgian effort to prevent another Russian advance.
Combat and support troops of Russia's 58th army were using the
Georgian city Gori, a major road hub, as their base of operations.
Russian supply lorries were moving through the city streets and
combat troops were conducting patrols in the town, Georgian media
reported.
The situation in the city was quiet and the Russian army had begun
tours of the city for journalists accompanying Russian troops. The
town had seen some looting but earlier reports of ethnic cleansing
and wholesale property damage were unfounded, eyewitnesses said.
Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev on Sunday afternoon announced
troop withdrawals would begin Monday, starting with forces brought in
during later stages of the conflict, the Interfax news agency
reported.
Russia's general staff reported Russian forces had taken control
of the Ingursk hydroelectric dam, on the border between Georgia and
the secessionist province Abkhazia. The dam, formerly controlled by
Tbilisi, is a major electricity provider for Georgia and Abkhazia.
Forest fires were burning in old growth forests in Georgia's
Borjoumi region. Georgian officials accused Russian helicopters of
setting the fires. Russian officials denied the claim, adding they
would help fight the fires were the Georgian government to request
it.
Russian mobile forces in the west of Georgia on Sunday showed no
signs of abandoning the city Senaki, like Gori a key road hub in the
region. Patrols of infantry and personnel carriers were moving deeper
into Georgian territory from time to time, but were returning to
Senaki.
Russian marines and naval troops on Sunday were seen leaving the
Georgian port Poti after having demolished Georgian naval
installations and removed tons of Georgian military materials by
lorry. US-supplied patrol boats were among the Georgian naval
equipment carted away by the Russians, eyewitnesses said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Tbilisi on Sunday for
talks with the Georgian leadership on the ceasefire arrangement, and
possible EU assistance to Georgia.
The German leader speaking at a press conference called on
Medvedev to begin troop withdrawals, saying 'according to the
information I have available to me unfortunately this withdrawals
have not yet begun.'
US President George W Bush on Saturday called on Moscow to end the
crisis in Georgia as Russian President Dimitry Medvedev signed a six-
point European Union-mediated peace plan in the conflict over the
breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
'Russia needs to honour the agreement and withdraw its forces, and
of course end military operations,' Bush said from his ranch in
Crawford Texas.
A key point of the plan is the withdrawal of Russian armed forces
to positions held before hostilities began in the breakaway Georgian
region of South Ossetia last week.
Russian forces were ignoring the stipulations. Russian officers
have justified the continued wide-ranging movements of Russian forces
as necessary to maintain stability and security in the region.
The Russian Army's General Staff in Moscow has repeatedly denied
reports that Russian troops were still in Gori and Poti, despite
eyewitness accounts to the contrary.
Russian officials have conceded their forces are in Georgian
military bases destroying material, but have adhered to statements
that Russian troops have been staying out of Georgian villages and
cities.
'Presently we have no units in Gori or Poti,' Deputy Chief of
Staff General Anatoly Nogovytsyn said on Sunday, as reported by the
Interfax news agency.
USA
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