Russian FM: No Timetable for Pullout From Georgia | Voice of America - English
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Russian troops have no timetable for withdrawing from Georgia under a cease-fire agreement both sides have signed. Lavrov told reporters in Moscow today the pullout is contingent on the security situation in the region.
PresidentDmitry Medvedev signed the six-point agreement in Sochi, the Black Searesort town that is home to a presidential summer residence. Underthe terms of the agreement, both sides will pull back their armedforces to the positions held before the fighting broke out earlier thismonth, when Georgia launch a massive attack on the Russia-backedbreakaway province South Ossetia. A Ministry of Defense spokesman General Anatoly Nogovitsyn said the conditions for work to begin are now in place. Nogovitsynsaid the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received the document with thepeace agreement today and it has already been signed by Russia andGeorgia without any changes made. But, Russian Foreign MinisterSergei Lavrov told journalists Saturday that there was no set timetablefor the withdrawal of Russian troops, saying it will take "as long asneeded," depending, in part, on what he described as "additionalsecurity measures." Earlier, Nogovitsyn said that Russianpeacekeepers will never leave the Georgian breakaway regions of SouthOssetia and Abkhazia. He denied Georgia's allegations that Russiabombed a key railway bridge west of the capital Tbilisi hours beforeMoscow signed the cease-fire agreement. Television images showed a portion of the Kaspi region bridge destroyed. Witnessessay Russian troops remain entrenched deep in Georgian territory, awayfrom the Abkhazian and South Ossetian borders, and that they stillsurround the key city of Gori. The United States demanded onFriday that Russia pull out of Georgia immediately, accusing Moscow of"bullying" its tiny southern neighbor by sending in troops and tanks. OnSaturday, U.S. President George Bush called Russia's response toGeorgia's actions "completely unacceptable," in his weekly radioaddress. Mr. Bush said that the breakaway regions of South Ossetia andAbkhazia must remain part of Georgia.