The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Gori

The Georgian Foreign Ministry says more Russian troops have moved into the city of Gori after a withdrawal had appeared to be under way earlier in the day.

Ministry spokeswoman Nato Chikovani said Thursday that Russian troops also moved into the Black Sea oil port city of Poti, from which they had appeared to leave earlier.

Russian and Georgian soldiers briefly confronted each other at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Gori around midday on Tuesday. Russian tanks hurried to the scene to force the Georgians to back off.

The cause of the apparent breakdown of the Russians' withdrawal from Gori was not immediately known, although some Georgian police said the Russian's South Ossetian allies had refused to leave the city.

Meanwhile, Russian troops began pulling out Thursday from this hub on Georgia's main east-west highway, Georgia's Interior Ministry said, where the soldiers' presence raised fears that Russia would challenge a shaky cease-fire agreement.

The strategically located city is 15 miles south of South Ossetia, the separatist region where Russian and Georgian forces fought a brutal five-day battle. Russian troops entered Gori on Wednesday, after the two sides signed the cease-fire that called for their forces to pull back to the positions they held before the fighting started.