U.S. Tells Russia to Remove Forces From Georgia `Immediately'

By Helena Bedwell and Henry Meyer

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. demanded Russia pull its troops out of Georgia ``immediately,'' after Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili signed a European Union-brokered peace plan that ended five days of fighting.

``Now with the signature of the Georgian president on this cease-fire accord, all Russian troops and any irregular and paramilitary forces that entered with them must leave immediately,'' U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in the Georgian capital Tbilisi yesterday.

A statement late yesterday from the Kremlin said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had spoken by telephone with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the current head of the EU, about steps toward getting the plan signed by all parties. Both ``expressed satisfaction'' at the level of cooperation, the Kremlin statement said.

Four days after Medvedev ordered a halt to hostilities, Russian troops are seizing military equipment at Georgian bases well beyond the breakaway South Ossetia region that sparked the conflict. Russian General Nikolai Uvarov told Bloomberg Television in an interview yesterday it could take ``days'' to complete the task.

Saakashvili told reporters in Tbilisi late yesterday that the Russians had moved into three Georgian towns -- Kaspi, Borjomi and Khashuri -- after the cease-fire.

Moves Stoke Tensions

The continued Russian military activity is fueling tensions between Russia and the U.S., which deployed its military to deliver aid to Georgia. The West sees Georgia as a key ally in the region, in part because it has a pipeline that carries Caspian Sea crude oil to Western markets, bypassing Russia. The U.S. backs Georgia's bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which Russian leaders view as a security threat.

``Moscow must honor its commitment to withdraw its invading forces from all Georgian territory,'' President George W. Bush said yesterday in Washington, insisting that only Russia's pre- conflict contingent of peacekeepers remain in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway region. Bush added that ``bullying and intimidation'' by Russia won't be tolerated.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the Russian military offensive against Georgia as ``disproportionate,'' after talks with Medvedev in Sochi, southern Russia.

Georgia Seeks Peacekeepers

``We are under Russian invasion and Russian occupation right now,'' Saakashvili said standing next to Rice against a backdrop of U.S. and Georgian flags. He said the cease-fire agreement is ``not a final settlement'' and called for a ``genuine international peacekeeping force on the ground to replace the occupiers.''

Russian troops still control one third of Georgian territory, Saakashvili said earlier.

No country has recognized South Ossetia or Abkhazia since they broke away from Georgia in wars after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia has had peacekeepers in both regions since then and expelled all Georgian forces from the territories in recent fighting.

``Unfortunately, after what happened, it's unlikely that the Abkhaz and South Ossetians can live in a single state with Georgia,'' Medvedev said. ``Or some absolutely titanic efforts must be made to resolve this conflict.''

He met Aug. 14 in Moscow with South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity and Sergei Bagapsh, the leader of Abkhazia, and told them that Russia would support their regions' decisions about their future status.

No Russian Timetable

Medvedev gave no timetable for a troop withdrawal after his talks with Merkel. ``I'm telling you that we have been fulfilling our peacekeeping mandate and will continue to do so,'' he said.

Russia wants to maintain a buffer zone inside Georgia proper to protect the territories, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

The Russian peacekeeping mission includes weakening Georgia's military so that it ``can't even think about repeating its attempts to attack this or that territory,'' Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of Russia's General Staff, said.

Russia sent troops, tanks and warplanes into Georgia on Aug. 8 in response to a Georgian offensive to restore control over South Ossetia. As many as 2,000 civilians died in the fighting, Russian and South Ossetian officials said. Georgia accused Russia of a ``well-planned invasion.''

Statehood for the two regions, where most people have Russian passports, ``is an open question,'' Ivanov said. ``Look, we have many precedents in the world.''

A Precedent

Both self-declared republics argue that Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia, recognized by much of the West, should be a precedent for their independence.

Russian troops seized U.S.- and Russian-made weapons in the Georgian town of Senaki, near Abkhazia, Nogovitsyn told reporters in Moscow yesterday.

The U.S. has provided military training and financial aid to Georgia's army. About 1,000 U.S. soldiers joined 600 Georgians for exercises in mid-July, three weeks before fighting broke out in South Ossetia.

In the city of Gori, near South Ossetia, Russian peacekeepers are securing an abandoned Georgian arsenal and preventing looting, Nogovitsyn said. Saakashvili told reporters in Tbilisi yesterday that the Russian army has brought in ``thousands and thousands of irregulars'' who are terrorizing the population.

The EU peace plan calls for the withdrawal of Georgian and Russian troops, renunciation of the use of force, an end to all military operations and a commitment to making humanitarian aid freely available in the conflict zone.

``The primary risk at the moment in our opinion lies with possible economic and financial sanctions by the U.S. should Russian troops deploy further in Georgia,'' Morgan Stanley analysts including Jonathan Garner wrote.

Bush ordered the U.S. military three days ago to spearhead a humanitarian aid mission to Georgia, with shipments to be delivered by the navy and military aircraft. Nogovitsyn said Russia isn't convinced the goal of the U.S. mission is humanitarian and ``is very worried'' about it.

To contact the reporters on this story: Helena Bedwell in Tbilisi hbedwell@bloomberg.net; Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net