Russians Pull Out Of Key Georgian Towns

Georgians Celebrate But U.S., France Complain Withdrawal Not Complete

(CBS/AP)  Columns of hulking, smoke-belching Russian tanks rolled out of key positions deep inside Georgia Friday as Moscow declared it had pulled its forces out following the worst confrontation between the Kremlin and the West since the Soviet collapse. But the United States and France protested the withdrawal was not complete.

Georgians exulted in a new sense of freedom as the Russian troops departed.

In Igoeti, the closest Russians got to the capital of Tbilisi, Georgians pumped their fists and waved white-and-red national flags as two Russian tanks began to leave. They were trailed by Georgian police in more than 100 civilian cars and several police trucks.

"How can we not be happy? We've gotten what we want," said Levan, 77, a math teacher who would give only his first name. "We're overjoyed to see our own police on our streets again."

An Associated Press reporter saw what may have been the last convoy of Russian armored vehicles leave Gori shortly after 5 p.m. Friday. The six vehicles drove off after soldiers fired on a disabled armored personnel carrier, perhaps not to leave any working equipment behind for the Georgians to seize.

A few hours later, Gori was empty of Russian forces.

"We are in control of the streets of the city of Gori," Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said outside city hall.

The withdrawal came two weeks to the day after thousands of Russian soldiers roared into the former Soviet republic following an assault by Georgian forces on the capital of the separatist territory of South Ossetia. The conflict left hundreds dead, several cities destroyed and nearly 160,000 people homeless.

Russian columns left Georgia's western Senaki military base, the central city of Gori and the eastern checkpoint of Igoeti, just 30 miles from the capital, Tbilisi.

But troops and armored personnel carriers stayed put in at least three positions near Senaki and the Black Sea port city of Poti, raising questions about Russia's intentions. The Russians also said they were creating so-called security zones extending into Georgian territory to prevent future attacks.

CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller reported that President Bush, vacationing at his ranch in Texas, told Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili Thursday the U.S. "expects Russia to abide by its agreement to withdraw forces," according to White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

Bush also conferred with French president Nicolas Sarkozy Friday and "the two agreed that Russia is not in compliance and that Russia needs to come into compliance now," said Johndroe.

"Compliance means compliance with that plan," he said. "We haven't seen that yet. It's my understanding that they have not completely withdrawn from areas considered undisputed territory, and they need to do that."

The Russians "have without a doubt failed to live up to their obligations," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in Washington. "Establishing checkpoints, buffer zones, are definitely not part of the agreement."

Georgia's state minister on reintegration, Temur Yakobashvili, told the AP formation of a buffer zone outside South Ossetia "is absolutely illegal."

In South Ossetia, Russian troops erected 18 peacekeeping posts in a so-called "security zone" around its border with Georgia. Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of Russia's general staff, said Friday that peacekeepers would establish another 18 peacekeeping posts around Abkhazia.

A total of 2,142 Russian peacekeepers are to be deployed on Abkhazia's de facto border, while 452 will man the South Ossetia de facto border, Nogovitsyn said.

In Moscow, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said the pullback into South Ossetia was finished late Friday.

In western Georgia, a column of 83 Russian tanks, armored personnel carriers and trucks hauling artillery drove north from the Senaki military base toward the breakaway Abkhazia region along the Black Sea coast on Friday afternoon. Georgian police said the vehicles came from the base, which has been under Russian control for over a week.

The convoy doubled in size as it rumbled slowly north, and it took hours to cross into Abkhazia.

In central Georgia, at least 40 Russian military vehicles left the strategic city of Gori, heading north in the direction of South Ossetia, the Roki Tunnel and Russia beyond.

An AP reporter in Igoeti confirmed Russian forces had pulled out from their former checkpoints and roadside positions around the village. Located on Georgia's main highway between Gori and the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, Igoeti had been the Russians' closest position to the Georgian capital.

Georgians milled around a checkpoint near Gori for hours before a crane came to heft the cement blocks from the road and traffic started to filter through. A few Russian soldiers lingered near the site.

Russia's invasion and brief occupation of uncontested Georgian territory has deeply strained relations between Moscow and the West.

Russia has frozen its military cooperation with NATO, Moscow's Cold War foe, underscoring a growing division in Europe. Georgia's pro-Western leaders are pushing to join NATO, angering a resurgent Russia.

The major fighting began Aug. 7 when Georgia launched an artillery and rocket barrage targeting Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia - which has survived since the 1990s with the patronage of Moscow and the protection of troops Russia calls peacekeepers.

Russian forces arrived in less than 24 hours, quickly drove the Georgians back and pressed deep into Georgia.

Under an EU-brokered cease-fire deal, both sides are to pull back to positions held before the fighting erupted.

Western leaders have called for a complete withdrawal of Russian combat troops from Georgia, and for peacekeeping forces to resume the positions they had in South Ossetia before the conflict. But Russia says it will patrol buffer zones stretching into Georgia proper.

Questions remained about whether Russia was withdrawing all its forces.

In western Georgia, an AP photographer say troops and armored personnel carriers still deployed at three Russian positions after nightfall - one on the outskirts of Poti, one at a crossroads near the Senaki base and another further north along he road toward Abkhazia.

Poti is far from any security zone envisioned by Western governments.

And after a long Russian column crossed into Abkhazia, Russian armored vehicles and troops with blue helmets and the Russian initials for Peacekeeping Forces headed in the opposite direction, into Georgia proper.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Frederic Desagneaux said the cease-fire deal allows Russian peacekeeping forces to operate only "in the immediate proximity of South Ossetia" and only in patrols

suggesting the West considers the new Russian posts outside South Ossetia and Abkhazia as violations.

Regardless of Friday's withdrawal, Russia, Georgia and the West seem certain to continue the diplomatic struggle over South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which broke from Georgia's control in wars following the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.

The Russian parliament was expected to discuss recognizing the independence of the separatist regions Monday.

In an interview with the AP, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity signaled that ethnic Georgians will not be allowed to return as payback for the ethnic Ossetians who could not return to Georgia after a previous conflict.

"There is nothing left anymore" for them to come back to, he noted.

In the village of Achabeti, an AP reporter saw Ossetians remove chairs, window frames and whatever else they could carry from abandoned Georgian houses.

Russian emergency officials arrived in Achabeti to evacuate elderly Georgians who were too frail to flee. The Georgians were taken to Gori, where officials were trying to get in touch with their relatives.

Many of the elderly were happy to be evacuated, having been left with no food or care. But some thought it was an effort to deport all Georgians from Ossetia.

"They are erasing this village from the face of earth so that Ossetians would come here," Aliosh Maisuradze, 83, said with tears in his eyes.

The U.N. estimates 158,000 people have fled their homes due to the fighting. The United States has carried out 20 aid flights to Georgia since Aug. 19, and three U.S. warships were heading toward Turkey carrying blankets, hygiene kits and baby food to Georgia.

[trrrorislam1]

HUSSEINs VICE PRESIDENT,,,

hmmmm will it be a TYPICAL WHITE PERSON???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8gnmUyminI

hmmmm will it be one that is clinging to his gun and religion???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNoJ0q6HrK8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmv5NZ4zcdc&feature=related

hmmmm will it be one that wants americans to learn spanish???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZprtPat1Vk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W7srmHLclw

hmmmm will it be a RACIST like himSelf, hating whitey and jews???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfC4OOm1aoM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI77cU3jsFs&feature=related

RACIST HUSSEIN PICKS,,, RACIST BIDEN AS VP,,, shocker,,,

Obama''''s Racist Vice President Biden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlxXNyIuyTM

BIDEN SAYS NOW,,, HE IS HAPPY TO BE VICE PRESIDENT TO HUSSEIN,,,

"I mean, you''ve got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice looking guy."
: SENATOR JOE BIDEN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxWSVXZVR4c

BIDEN SAYS HUSSEIN NOT READY,,,

BIDEN SAYS HE IS READY TO RUN WITH OR AGAINST MCCAIN,,,

BIDEN SAYS COUNTRY BETTER OFF WITH MCCAIN,,, THAN HUSSEIN,,,

Joe Biden On Barack Obama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDVUPqoowf8

[trrrorislam1]

NAIVE HUSSEIN SEES AMERICA AS EVIL,,,

and you want to make him PRESIDENT OF THE USA???

Saddleback Church Civil Forum - Obama & McCain 8 of 17
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqsH13unGbM&feature=related

Abortion, evil, Obama and McCain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0eVomjmCGI

[zeezedzee]

NSKDuke2 you are right, I quoted the wrong person, I saw your name at the top of the post and thought the post was from you. It wasn''t, rather it was from Good4Always! My apologies for quoting that incorrectly!

[underdogus87]

Associated Press (20 August 2008)
North Korea stepped up criticism of ongoing U.S.-South Korea military exercises, warning Wednesday that it would boost its "war deterrent" %u2014 a euphemism for its nuclear programs.

[underdogus87]

War could erupt at any moment in the Far East. China could attack Taiwan, which would create a diplomatic and military crisis for the United States.

[underdogus87]

The war started late on Aug. 7 when Saakashvili ordered his small, U.S.-trained military to attack and seize Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, a tiny mountainous region on the southern face of the Caucasus Ridge. The region has been out of Georgia''s control, and under Russian support, since a brief war in the 1990s.

[underdogus87]

In Tbilisi on Friday night, Saakashvili spoke live on national television, appearing grim and subdued. He warned Georgians to expect more problems, and he pledged to offer compensation to families who had lost relatives in the fighting.

[underdogus87]

KISS YOUR KIDS GOOD-BYE: JOHN McCAIN FEELS A DRAFT

John McCain, War Games And The Draft

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-hansen/john-mccain-war-games-and_b_120659.html

My friends, John McCain feels a draft.

[underdogus87]

terrorislamz stinks

always has

always will

[underdogus87]

The Kremlin has signaled its intention to remove Saakashvili in part by trying to isolate him. The Russian Foreign Ministry, which has often suggested that Saakashvili is unstable, said this week that it would not negotiate directly with him "for reasons absolutely understandable to any sensible person."...Suckasvilli is a charlatan and a used car salesman..

[nskduke2]

Like most countries the Iraelites fought for their independence and won.All the Arab countries have failed to crush Israel''s existance and I doubt it will ever happen even if the US doesn''t help them.

[nskduke2]

Like most countries the Iraelites fought for their independence and won.All the Arab countries have failed to crush Israel''s existance and I doubt it will ever happen even if the US doesn''t help them.

[nskduke2]

AVSuvorov
True the US hasn''t had a formal declaration of war since World War II, but its still a war.The US calls it a war,the Iraq''s call it a war.It will go down in history books as a war just like the Vietnam War and Korean War.

[nskduke2]

The country Israel is sacred to the jews.Israel has the right to exists.The jewish people have been presecuted through histroy even in ancient times.That land is rightfully theirs.They have been fighting for it forever.

[nskduke2]

The country Israel is sacred to the jews.Israel has the right to exists.The jewish people have been presecuted through histroy even in ancient times.That land is rightfully theirs.They have been fighting for it forever.

[nskduke2]

The country Israel is sacred to the jews.Israel has the right to exists.The jewish people have been presecuted through histroy even in ancient times.That land is rightfully theirs.They have been fighting for it forever.

[wardoglrs]

AVSuvorov:Before Israel became a country they were in control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.It has always been theirs.Israel will always be fighting to protect their land.It will always be an endless fight.

What a moron you are That land was stolen and occupied with the help of the US gov,

Israel is a Welfare country and they get the money from tax payers. They have nothing in exports just Welfare from the US tax payer. These people can go to hell!And its them that own and direct this countries foreign policy and America better wake up fast.

So AVSuvorov where do you get your info?. F-ing morons
think Israel is innocent... Give me a break

[nskduke2]

Before Israel became a country they were in control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.It has always been theirs.Israel will always be fighting to protect their land.It will always be an endless fight.

[nskduke2]

AVSuvorov
The Americans declared war with Iraq while Russia invade Georgia without declaring war.Depending on where you stand,its a matter of opinion.I think declaring war is better then invading and not declaring war.Just any opinion.

[nskduke2]

zeeZedzee
You know whats sad,you are making false statements about me.I never said that,in fact I remember you saying that.Making false statements about someone shows truly how stupid they can get.You can be better then that and you know it.