The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Moscow

Russia's president pledged to withdraw his troops to areas where they had been before fighting erupted in Georgia last month but only after 200 European Union monitors deploy later this month as part of a revised cease-fire agreement.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili cautiously endorsed the deal on Monday, but insisted any final settlement with Russia must respect his country's territorial integrity. He made clear he still considers the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia part of his country.

"There is no way Georgia will ever give up a piece of its sovereignty, a piece of its territory," Saakashvili said after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who brokered the latest deal.

The short war between Georgia and Russia - which began when Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia followed by Russia invading and routing Georgia's military - has turned into a critical event in the post-Cold War world as Russia asserts its new economic and military clout and the West struggles to respond.

Georgia and Western nations have complained Russia failed to withdraw troops and follow through on other earlier pledges in an Aug. 12 cease-fire agreement.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said 200 European Union monitors would deploy to regions surrounding South Ossetia and Abkhazia by next month. After that, Russian troops would pull out of those regions by Oct. 11 to a line that preceded last month's fighting.

He said Russian troops would pull out of the Black Sea port of Poti and nearby areas in the next seven days, but only if Georgia signed a pledge to not use force against Abkhazia. Georgia had complained that the presence of Russian troops in Poti - located dozens of miles away from the fighting in South Ossetia - was a blatant violation of the cease-fire.

Sarkozy acknowledged that one of the sticking points of the talks was Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent from Georgia. Both areas have had de facto independence since breaking away from Georgian government control in the early 1990s.

"It is not up to Russia to recognize unilaterally the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. There are international rules. These should be respected," Sarkozy said.