Russia Leaves Troops in Georgia, Despite Conditions of Peace Deal

President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brief reporters on Georgia. (By J. Scott Applewhite -- Associated Press)

"One reason that I wanted it in writing, that the Georgians wanted it in writing, was that nobody wanted the Russians to make the kinds of claims that they may now be making," Rice said.

She also acknowledged that "Russians are perhaps already not honoring their word."

Medvedev signed the agreement after approval on Friday by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. The plan, which initially led to a shaky cease-fire on Aug. 12, requires both sides to pull back troops to positions they held before fighting started on Aug. 8.

Moscow says its troops moved into Georgia to protect residents of South Ossetia after Georgian troops attacked the city of Tskhinvali. Saakashvili refutes this version of events and has accused Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and other Russian leaders of seeking to assert control over Georgia, which was controlled by Moscow in Soviet and czarist times.

The dispute has been complicated by repeated conflicts in the reports about Russian activities in Georgia and the breakaway regions. On Saturday, for example, a Georgian official accused Russian troops of destroying a railroad bridge about 30 miles from Tbilisi, but top Russian military officials disputed that assertion.

The bridge is part of a key rail line that connects Tbilisi with the Black Sea port of Poti. Reuters said members of one of its film crews found twisted steel and rubble at one end of the bridge. Other reporters said track had been damaged but the bridge was still standing.

"When we were involved in combat actions as part of the peacekeeping operation, bridges were our targets indeed. But now, when there is peace, why should we blow up bridges?" said Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, a deputy chief of staff of the Russian armed forces, according to remarks translated by the news agency Interfax. "It is us who would have to restore them."

Nogovitsyn also said that Russian troops had left the Georgian cities of Gori and Poti but were operating nearby. "Our units are on the outskirts of Gori now, where large arsenals of Georgian weapons, including 15 tanks, have been discovered," he said.

Nogovitsyn said the Russian military was assisting local authorities in South Ossetia to keep order and protect against looting, and that soldiers were bound by prior commitments to act as peacekeepers in the disputed territory. He did not set a timetable for Russian forces to leave Abkhazia and South Ossetia, saying only that it would take place "later."

Bush emphasized that the provinces "are a part of Georgia, and the international community has repeatedly made clear that they will remain so."

"Georgia is a member of the United Nations, and South Ossetia and Abkhazia lie within its internationally recognized borders," Bush added. "Georgia's borders should command the same respect as every other nation's."

Bush spoke with Saakashvili by telephone Saturday afternoon, officials said. He also discussed the crisis with the Canadian prime minister and the Latvian president.

Also Saturday, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was headed to Georgia this weekend at Saakashvili's request. Biden has been named as a possible running mate for the Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.).

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the GOP presidential candidate, announced last week that two of his closest allies, Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), would travel to Tbilisi on his behalf.

Eggen reported from Washington. Staff writer Fredrick Kunkle in Moscow and correspondent Peter Finn in Tskhinvali, Georgia, contributed to this report.