Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

story

Russian Forces Pull Back After Cease-Fire Deal

Associated Press
Published | Updated

IGOETI, Georgia – Russian forces have pulled back from the center of a town near the Georgian capital after a cease-fire deal went into effect.

Russia's president signed the cease-fire plan Saturday, a day after Georgia's president reluctantly agreed to the pact after lengthy talks with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

But Russia's foreign minister says the withdrawal will be contingent on further security measures.

• Click here to view video.

The Russian leader signed the order in the resort city of Sochi, where the president has a summer residence, Medvedev spokesman Alexei Pavlov said, without providing further details.

The cease-fire plan calls for Russian forces to withdraw to the positions they held before the fighting broke out in Georgia's Russian-backed separatist province of South Ossetia. That appears to mean that hundreds of Russian soldiers who had been in South Ossetia previously as peacekeepers will be allowed to return.

• Click here to view photos of the conflict in Georgia.

• Click here to view a video report of the conflict.

• Bush Accuses Russia of 'Bullying and Intimidation' in Georgia Conflict

• U.N. Reports Over 118,000 Georgians Have Fled Fighting

The plan also grants Russian forces limited rights to patrol Georgia proper, apparently with the aim of discouraging the Georgian military or partisans from establishing forward positions near South Ossetia.

Less clear so far is whether Georgia would be able to return its soldiers to the areas in South Ossetia where its peacekeepers had been stationed. But any attempt by Georgia to do that would run into towering opposition.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili signed the deal Friday in Tbilisi after lengthy talks with Washington's top diplomat, Condoleezza Rice.

The deputy chief of the Russian military's general staff, Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, said Saturday that "the head of our state has made it clear that the Georgian side — appearing in the future as peacekeepers — is now, after what has happened, unacceptable to South Ossetia."

Russian troops had been seen digging foxholes and tank emplacements along a key Georgian road earlier Saturday. It was not immediately clear if any troops had begun pulling back after Medvedev signed the cease-fire.