Georgia confirms Russians pulling out

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Georgia confirms Russians pulling out. Photo: EFE

The Chief of the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia confirmed on Sunday that the Russians were retreating from a checkpoint in Georgian territory.

A Georgian Interior Ministry official said earlier that Russian troops have begun dismantling positions in the so-called security zones inside Georgia they have occupied since August's brief but intense war. "We have just received conformation from our monitoring teams that the Russians have dismantled the first check point at Ali, or Nabakhtebi as the Georgians say, and are retreating from it", said EU MM Chief Hansjorg Haber in Gori.

Local Georgian TV channel Rustavi on Sunday showed pictures of Russian soldiers dismantling sand-bag barriers, and filling in trenches at Ali. The moves on Sunday came as Russia faces a Friday deadline to pull its troops out of the so-called "security zones" it established outside Georgian separatist territories after the five-day war between Russia and Georgia in August.

The EU formal stance was explained by their monitoring chief Haber. "We depart from the assumption that the engagements taken on the 12th of August and 8th of September would be fully honoured and that by the 10th of October, i.e. next Friday, the Russian troops would have fully withdrawn from the adjacent area".

The pullback is mandated by an agreement brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Also on Sunday, Russian troops were seen taking down their flag and loading military equipment in trucks from posts in Nadarbazevi, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of the capital Tbilisi, and Karleti.