August 19, 2008
Russian Military Unit Leaves Georgian City
By REUTERS
Filed at 8:02 a.m. ET
GORI, Georgia (Reuters) - A column of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles left the Georgian city of Gori on Tuesday in what Russian officials said was the start of the pull-back demanded by the West.
A Reuters reporter saw four armoured personnel carriers and up to three tanks start up their engines and move out of Gori, which Russian forces had occupied this month in a conflict over Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region.
The move followed a NATO call for Russia to respect a peace deal with Georgia and pull out its troops, although alliance members were cool on a U.S. demand that NATO consider scaling back ties with Moscow.
"This is one of the first units to be pulled out," said an official from Russia's foreign ministry, which arranged for reporters to watch the column leave. The unit's commander said they were heading for the Russian city of Vladikavkaz.
It was not immediately clear if other Russian units were also pulling out of their positions inside Georgia.
Russia agreed to pull its forces back under a ceasefire deal brokered last week by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Russian troops went in after crushing a Georgian attack on Moscow-backed South Ossetia.
Until Tuesday there had been no evidence of the ground that Russian forces were on the move, and Western pressure to observe the ceasefire had been mounting.
"What is at issue today is making a lasting ceasefire out of the still very fragile situation, the very delicate situation in Georgia," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said as he arrived in Brussels for a NATO ministers' emergency meeting. "We therefore urge Russia to pull out of core Georgia."
The NATO meeting was to discuss a U.S. suggestion to punish Russia by suspending alliance ministerial meetings with Moscow. It was also expected to restate a commitment to eventual NATO membership for Georgia, angering Moscow but pleasing Tbilisi.
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