Bush, Sarkozy, say Russia not complying with ceasefire: aide

Agence France Presse

August 22, 2008

US President George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed in a telephone call Friday that Russia is "not in compliance" with a ceasefire pact for Georgia, the White House said.

The two leaders "shared assessments on the situation in Georgia. The two agreed that Russia is not in compliance and that Russia needs to come into compliance now," said spokesman Gordon Johndroe. "It's not only what we expect. That's what the French expect. That's what the European Union expects. Frankly, it sounds like it's just about what the whole world expects," he told reporters.

A statement by the French presidency said Bush and Sarkozy also urged Russia to fully complete its retreat from Georgia "in line with the engagements" taken by Moscow. And Sarkozy "stressed the importance of the work of the United Nations Security Council in terms of adopting a resolution about the situation in Georgia," during the talks, the statement said.

Russian tanks poured into Georgia on August 8, initially to repel an attempt by Georgia's small, US-trained army days earlier to seize control of pro-Russia South Ossetia, which unilaterally declared its independence from Tbilisi after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Russian troops then expelled Georgian forces from their last foothold in Abkhazia, another separatist zone. They also took control of key towns, military bases, roads and the oil port of Poti. Under the August 12 deal, Moscow agreed to withdraw all forces that entered Georgia after August 6th.

"It's my understanding that they (the Russians) have not completely withdrawn from areas considered undisputed territory. And they need to do that" under a ceasefire pact that Sarkozy brokered, Johndroe said. Earlier, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said Russia had completed its pullback of troops in Georgia, and "thus, the Russian side has fulfilled its obligations" under the French-brokered plan.

However, a senior Georgian official responded saying that Russia continued to occupy areas of the country. "It is not true that the withdrawal is complete," interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP. Serdyukov appeared to be referring to the pullout throughout Friday of combat troops from deep inside Georgia.

Hundreds of soldiers and columns of tanks and trucks could be seen moving north from forward positions into the Russian-controlled separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgian police have also retaken control of the strategically key town of Gori, the Georgian interior ministry spokesman told AFP.

"The Russians have finally begun to move their forces out of Georgia but they have failed to live up to their obligations under the ceasefire agreement," US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said in Washington.

Russia says 500 "peacekeepers" are to remain in a buffer zone around South Ossetia. An unknown number of combat troops also remain inside South Ossetia as well as Abkhazia, which both broke away from Tbilisi in the 1990s.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman and another top Democrat, Representative George Miller, traveled to Georgia in a show of support for the former Soviet republic, their offices said in a statement.

"We hope our presence demonstrates American solidarity and lifts the morale of the Georgian people," Berman said after their arrival aboard a US military aircraft carrying humanitarian assistance, according to the statement.

They met with top Georgian officials including President Mikheil Saakashvili, Speaker David Bakradze and other parliamentary officials, along with Georgian Prime Minister Vladimer Gurgenidze and the minister of defense.

The Russian troop presence "serves no good purpose, represents an intimidating force, and obstructs the delivery of humanitarian assistance as well as the rebuilding of what they have destroyed," said Berman.