No Russian withdrawal in Georgia despite Bush, Merkel call (Roundup)

Aug 17, 2008, 14:52 GMT

Tbilisi - Russian military forces on Sunday were showing few signs of falling back from positions deep in Georgia, as US President George W Bush and German chancellor Angela Merkel called on the Kremlin to honour a ceasefire stipulating they leave.

Russian infantry backed by armoured personnel carriers and tanks were digging in on the banks of the Lekhura River, having fallen back some three kilometres from the village Igoeti on Saturday.

The army checkpoint was the most forward Russian element in Georgia, some 30 kilometres from the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

Russian troops were not interfering with local residents but halting all traffic moving on the Tblisi-Gori highway. Prior to evacuating Igoeti, Russian combat engineers blew up a Georgian railroad bridge in the vicinity, villagers said.

Georgian police and army troops were keeping a minimum five kilometres' distance from the Russians. With most Georgian security personnel resting in the shade, there was little evidence of a coherent Georgian effort to prevent another Russian advance.

Combat and support troops of Russia's 58th army were using the Georgian city Gori, a major road hub, as their base of operations. Russian supply lorries were moving through the city streets and combat troops were conducting patrols in the town, Georgian media reported.

The situation in the city was quiet and the Russian army had begun tours of the city for journalists accompanying Russian troops. The town had seen some looting but earlier reports of ethnic cleansing and wholesale property damage were unfounded, eyewitnesses said.

Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev on Sunday afternoon announced troop withdrawals would begin Monday, starting with forces brought in during later stages of the conflict, the Interfax news agency reported.

Russia's general staff reported Russian forces had taken control of the Ingursk hydroelectric dam, on the border between Georgia and the secessionist province Abkhazia. The dam, formerly controlled by Tbilisi, is a major electricity provider for Georgia and Abkhazia.

Forest fires were burning in old growth forests in Georgia's Borjoumi region. Georgian officials accused Russian helicopters of setting the fires. Russian officials denied the claim, adding they would help fight the fires were the Georgian government to request it.

Russian mobile forces in the west of Georgia on Sunday showed no signs of abandoning the city Senaki, like Gori a key road hub in the region. Patrols of infantry and personnel carriers were moving deeper into Georgian territory from time to time, but were returning to Senaki.

Russian marines and naval troops on Sunday were seen leaving the Georgian port Poti after having demolished Georgian naval installations and removed tons of Georgian military materials by lorry. US-supplied patrol boats were among the Georgian naval equipment carted away by the Russians, eyewitnesses said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Tbilisi on Sunday for talks with the Georgian leadership on the ceasefire arrangement, and possible EU assistance to Georgia.

The German leader speaking at a press conference called on Medvedev to begin troop withdrawals, saying 'according to the information I have available to me unfortunately this withdrawals have not yet begun.'

US President George W Bush on Saturday called on Moscow to end the crisis in Georgia as Russian President Dimitry Medvedev signed a six- point European Union-mediated peace plan in the conflict over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

'Russia needs to honour the agreement and withdraw its forces, and of course end military operations,' Bush said from his ranch in Crawford Texas.

A key point of the plan is the withdrawal of Russian armed forces to positions held before hostilities began in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia last week.

Russian forces were ignoring the stipulations. Russian officers have justified the continued wide-ranging movements of Russian forces as necessary to maintain stability and security in the region.

The Russian Army's General Staff in Moscow has repeatedly denied reports that Russian troops were still in Gori and Poti, despite eyewitness accounts to the contrary.

Russian officials have conceded their forces are in Georgian military bases destroying material, but have adhered to statements that Russian troops have been staying out of Georgian villages and cities.

'Presently we have no units in Gori or Poti,' Deputy Chief of Staff General Anatoly Nogovytsyn said on Sunday, as reported by the Interfax news agency.