The New Nation - Internet Edition

BBC online

Russia says its withdrawal of combat troops from Georgia is going according to plan and that it is not prepared to increase the speed of the operation.

Moscow has set itself a deadline of Friday night to withdraw to "a buffer zone" in Georgia around the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Russia says it plans a "permanent presence" there, with around 2,000 troops inside Georgia as peacekeepers.

Georgia says it will not accept any "annexation" of its land by Russia.

Diplomatic efforts at the UN have reached deadlock over rival resolutions on the crisis from France and Russia.

The US says it is prepared to veto a Russian resolution at the UN Security Council seeking to implement a six-point ceasefire plan.

Russia has reiterated its opposition to a rival French text, which reaffirms Georgia's territorial integrity.

Russian troops have started dismantling the closest checkpoint to the Georgian capital, at Igoeti, 35km (21 miles) from Tbilisi.

The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse says Russian tanks and armoured vehicles have left and that the remaining soldiers are dismantling roadblocks, removing camouflage and preparing to leave.

BBC correspondents have also seen columns of Russian heavy armour on the move around the flashpoint town of Gori, near South Ossetia.

The deputy chief of the Russian military General Staff, Gen Anatoly Nogovitsyn, said the withdrawal of all combat troops was going according to plan.

"The troop pullback has been started at a rate to make sure that the Russian troops be within the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent by the end of 22 August," he said.

"We are not going to correct this plan or increase the speed of withdrawal."

Gen Nogovitsyn said Russian troops were setting up checkpoints on the borders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia with Georgia. Some would be based in an area including a military airfield at Senaki, he said.

Russia has told Nato it is halting all military co-operation, the bloc says, as the crisis over Georgia deepens.

The Russian move follows a statement by Nato that there would be no "business as usual" with Moscow unless its troops pulled out of Georgia.

However, the alliance had stopped short of freezing co-operation with Moscow.

Meanwhile, a top Russian general said that the withdrawal of the bulk of Russia's troops would be complete in about 10 days.

Gen Vladimir Boldyrev, commander of the Russian ground forces in the region, referred to the pullout of troops "sent to reinforce Russian peacekeepers" in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.

It was not immediately clear how Gen Boldyrev's comments would fit in with a previous Russian commitment to withdraw its forces to behind a buffer zone around South Ossetia by the end of Friday.

Moscow has said it intends to keep some 500 troops in what it called a "zone of responsibility" as part of a peacekeeping mission.

In a separate development, South Ossetia and Abkhazia - another Georgian breakaway region - held mass rallies calling for independence.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow's response to their pleas would depend on the conduct of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Nato spokeswoman Carmen Romero said the alliance "takes note" of Russia's decision to halt co-operation but had no further reaction to it.

Speaking to reporters in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, Mr Lavrov said Russia was not going "shut any doors" to future co-operation with Nato.

But he warned that the alliance had to decide what was more important to it - supporting Mr Saakashvili or developing a partnership with Russia.