Russia/Georgia

Bush calls on Russia to withdraw amid ceasefire uncertainty

Article published on the 2008-08-13 Latest update 2008-08-14 08:53 TU

Refugees flee Gori
(Photo: Reuters)

Russian troops are handing over control of the area around the town of Gori to Georgian forces, say officials. The move came after US President George Bush called on Russia to withdraw from Georgian territory and be evidence of Moscow's compliance with a truce to end a week of conflict with Georgia. Meanwhile Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is on her way to the country in a strong show of support for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Moscow denies that its troops are heading for Tbilisi. Georgia's Baltic allies have criticised the EU-brokered peace agreement between the two sides, after European Foreign Ministers endorsed it and said they were ready to send peacekeepers.

In a brief televised statement, Bush declared the US's "unwavering support for Georgia's democratic government" and called on Russia to "keep its commitment and act to end the crisis".

About 60 tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles are reported to have left Gori on the road that leads to the capital.

But Russian Deputy Chief of Staff General Anatoly Nogovitsyn denied that any forces are heading for Tbilisi and the Georgian government also said that it did not believe that this was the case.

Earlier Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has accused Washington of being "too soft" on Moscow ahead of the conflict, told the CNN television channel that he believed Russia wanted to surround the capital.

The US-based group Human Rights Watch says that its researchers have seen "terrifying scenes of destruction" in ethnic-Georgian villages in South Ossetia after the Russians took control.

Georgia's allies in several former-communist states have slammed the peace agreeement brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, shortly after European Union foreign ministers endorsed it.

Lithaunian President Valdasa Adamkus read a barbed statement, signed by Poland, Latvia and Estonia, declaring their "full support for the territorial integrity of Georgia within internationally-recognised borders", a reference to Tbilisi's control of the contested regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The EU Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels endorsed the peace plan and called on both sides to observe "an effective ceasefire". They called for an international body to oversee the plan to be set up through a UN resolution.

They also backed a call for an international peacekeeping force and  offered to send troops, although Italy subsequently said that it could find fewer than 1,000 because of its commitments in other world hotspots.