Russia Pledges to Leave Georgia by Friday as Troops Take Prisoners in Georgia Port

A top Russian general said Wednesday that 64 of the country's soldiers were killed in this month's fighting with Georgia and 323 were wounded.

The figure given by Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovistsyn, deputy head of the general staff, reduces the fatality toll from the initial figure of 74 but substantially raises the number of wounded. Russia previously had said about 170 were wounded.

Georgian officials have said they lost 160 soldiers and that 300 are missing. Russia claims Georgian losses are much higher.

Russia stood behind its pledge to withdraw its troops from most of neighboring Georgia by Friday, rebuffing pressure from the United States, United Nations and NATO to leave sooner.

It remains to be seen whether Russia will follow through with the pledge, as a Pentagon official said Tuesday that there appears to be no significant change in the Russian military's occupation of the region despite an earlier promises to withdraw.

Russia signed a cease-fire with Georgia on Saturday, but since then, its troops have appeared to be digging in rather than pulling back after the fighting over the rebel province of South Ossetia.

A FOX News crew on the ground in Georgia described the Russians as "crack and combat ready," and on Tuesday, Russian soldiers took about 20 Georgian troops prisoner at a key Black Sea port in western Georgia, blindfolding them and holding them at gunpoint. They also commandeered American Humvees awaiting shipment back to a U.S. base. The vehicles had been used in a military exercise recently in Georgia involving U.S. and Georgian troops.

Yet there has some progress toward resolution of the dispute that reignited Cold War tensions. A small column of Russian tanks and armored vehicles left the strategic Georgian city of Gori, and the two countries exchanged prisoners captured during their brief war.

The U.N. Security Council held emergency consultations Tuesday over a draft proposal backing the cease-fire, calling for Georgia's sovereignty to be respected and pledging cooperation to peacekeepers and relief workers. But Russia's U.N. ambassador said Moscow could not support the proposal, Reuters reported.

Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the council that the resolution, which was promoted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, should endorse the six-point peace plan signed by Georgia and Russia. Russia holds veto power on the Security Council, and since the resolution did not endorse the six-part plan, "the Russian Federation will not be able to support (it)," Reuters reported.

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ON THE SCENE: The Unseen War in Georgia

The deputy head of Russia's general staff, Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, said Russian forces plan to remain in Poti until a local administration is formed, but did not give further details. He also justified previous seizures of Georgian soldiers as necessary to crack down on soldiers who were "out of any kind of control ... acting without command."

An AP television crew has seen Russian troops in and around Poti all week, with local port officials saying the Russians had destroyed radar, boats and other Coast Guard equipment there.

Russian troops last week drove Georgian forces out of South Ossetia, where Georgia on Aug. 7 launched a heavy artillery barrage in the separatist Georgian province with close ties to Russia. Fighting also has flared in a second Russian-backed separatist region, Abkhazia.

The short war has driven tensions between Russia and the West to some of their highest levels since the breakup of the Soviet Union, but Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has icily defended Russia's actions.

"Anyone who tries anything like that will face a crushing response," he said Monday. Later Medvedev handed out military medals to Russian soldiers involved in the fighting.

The cease-fire requires both sides to return to positions held before the fighting began, but Whitman said Tuesday morning in Washington that it didn't appear Russia had made any significant withdrawal of forces.

"So far we have not seen any significant movement out of Georgia," he said.

For the prisoner exchange Tuesday, two Russian military helicopters landed in the village of Igoeti, the closest that Russian forces have advanced to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Soldiers and men in unmarked clothing got off and two people in stretchers were taken to Georgian officials.

Georgian ambulances later brought two other people to the Russian choppers. One was on a gurney.

Georgian Security Council head Alexander Lomaia told reporters in Igoeti that 15 Georgians and five Russians were exchanged. "It went smoothly," he said. The operation also witnessed by Russian Maj. Gen. Vyacheslav Borisov, who commands troops in the area.

Lomaia said the exchange removed any pretext for Russians to keep holding positions in Igoeti, 30 miles west of Tbilisi, or anywhere else on Georgia's only significant east-west highway.

In Brussels, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was backing the setting up of a permanent NATO-Georgia Commission to solidify ties between the Western alliance and Georgia. Diplomats said Washington also supports increasing training for the Georgian military.

At the same time, NATO foreign ministers were discussing possibly scaling back high-level meetings and military cooperation with Russia if it does not abandon crucial positions across Georgia. But there were differences within the alliance over how far to go in punishing Moscow.

At a separate meeting, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Russia agreed to allow 20 more international military monitors in and around South Ossetia.

Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb says the plan calls for the observers to be sent immediately to Tbilisi. The group already has nine observers based in South Ossetia.

The United Nations has estimated that the fighting displaced more than 158,000 people. U.N. refugee chief Antonio Guterres arrived in Tbilisi on Tuesday to meet with government representatives to discuss the plight of tens of thousands of South Ossetians uprooted by Georgia's conflict with Russia.

Guterres then will travel to Moscow to meet with Russian officials, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees spokesman Andrej Mahecic said.

Mahecic told journalists in Geneva that UNHCR, like other aid agencies, has not been able to reach the civilian population in much of South Ossetia because of security issues there. The area is now controlled by Russia.

"We have seen media reports indicating that people are being shot at while trying to leave the area," he said.

In Gori, most shops were shut and people milled around on the central square with its statue of the Soviet dictator and native son Josef Stalin.

"The city is a cold place now. People are fearful," says Nona Khizanishvili, 44, who fled Gori a week ago for an outlying village and returned Monday, trying to reach her son in Tbilisi.

FOX News' Greg Palkot and the Associated Press contributed to this report.