Russia returns to Georgian village

Utbilisi: Russian troops returned yesterday to a disputed Georgian village they vacated a day earlier near breakaway South Ossetia, pushing back Georgian security forces.

Georgian police said between 500 and 600 Russian soldiers were in the village of Perevi, close to the de facto border with South Ossetia.

The troops pulled out of the village on Friday. Georgian police moved in behind them, but the Russians were back by nightfall. Television pictures showed Russian soldiers unloading sandbags from a truck.

Georgia has condemned the Russian presence in Perevi and described it as a violation of the ceasefire agreement brokered by the European Union after the war, when Russia intervened in its former Soviet neighbour to halt a Georgian assault on pro-Russian South Ossetia.