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Russian General says troop withdrawal from Georgia has begun
A Russian general on Monday said troops have begun withdrawing from Georgia despite reports that they are moving deeper into Georgian territory.
- Agencies
- Published: 16:14 August 18, 2008
Moscow, Russia: A Russian general on Monday said troops have begun withdrawing from Georgia despite reports that they are moving deeper into Georgian territory.
Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of the Russian military's General Staff, told reporters that Russian forces started to withdraw from the conflict zone earlier in the day.
He accused Georgia's forces of preparing acts of "provocation" against Russian troops in the conflict zone, saying Moscow had evidence they had attempted to blow up the Roki tunnel - the main crossing point for Russian troops into Georgia.
The statement by General Anatoly Nogovitsyn comes amid uncertainty about whether Russia is fulfilling President Dmitry Medvedev's promise to begin the pullout on Monday.
Georgian officials said that Russian forces around Gori had shown no sign of moving away and even appeared to move south to other key Georgian cities.
"Unfortunately, we see no signs that the Russians are starting to pull out or even preparing to withdraw from Georgia," said Interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili.
Russia also accused Georgia of failing to honour an agreement to swap military prisoners on Monday but Tbilisi denied such a deal existed.
Georgia and Russia continued to trade bitter accusations even after signing a truce to end a 10-day armed conflict over the breakaway region of South Ossetia last week.
Nogovitsyn said Moscow had agreed with Georgia to swap 12 Russian soldiers for 15 Georgians in the Georgian village of Ergneti on Monday.
"The Georgian side put forward a number of additional demands at the last minute, effectively spoiling the whole idea," he told reporters.
The Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman denied there had been any arrangement to exchange prisoners on Monday.
"Negotiations on this issue are under way. We had no agreement to exchange prisoners today," he said.
Neither side has said how many soldiers were being held in total. Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a defence source as saying that Moscow's forces held 200 Georgian prisoners.
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