Russia announced to the West on Sunday it would begin withdrawing forces from Georgia on Monday after a war that dealt a humiliating blow to the Black Sea state and raised fears for fuel supplies to Europe.
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.
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