French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had told him by telephone that forces would begin leaving around midday on Monday. Sarkozy, representing the European Union, said failure to pull out under a ceasefire deal would have serious consequences for ties with the EU.

Months of tension between Georgia and its former Soviet master erupted on August 7, when Tbilisi launched an assault to seize back control of the Russian-backed breakaway South Ossetia region. Russia said 1,600 civilians, many of them Russian citizens, were killed in the Georgian bombardment.

Russian troops fanned out beyond the boundaries of South Ossetia into the Georgian heartland, taking control of major centres including the strategically place city of Gori in fierce fighting that lasted over five days.

The Kremlin confirmed Sarkozy’s announcement made in Paris.

From tomorrow Russia will begin the withdrawal of the military contingent which was moved to reinforce Russian peacekeepers after the Georgian aggression against South Ossetia, it said in a statement.

Russia has made it clear it sees no prospect in the forseeable future of South Ossetia, which broke with Tbilisi in 1992, being reintegrated into Georgia.

Talks are under way to establish international agreement on a peacekeeping force for South Ossetia to the security zone and to the territory of South Ossetia.

The 10-day confrontation dealt a crushing blow to the Georgian military, damaged the country’s economy and drew some criticism in the West of President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Sunday saw no evidence of fighting, but Russian troops continued to man a checkpoint into Gori, albeit with a reduced presence — two armoured personnel carriers.

Major-General Vyacheslav Borisov, frontline commander around Gori, which lies 30 km (20 miles) beyond South Ossetia, told Reuters troops were already on the move. He said troops were maintaining positions around Gori, a city controlling the approach to South Ossetia and the main east-west highway, to protect Russia’s military pullout.

We were the first in, so we’ll be the last out, said Borisov, now a familiar figure touring the area of his command in his Georgian four-wheel-drive.