Russia Leaves Troops in Georgia, Despite Conditions of Peace Deal

By Holly Watt and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, August 17, 2008

CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 16 -- President Bush issued the latest in a series of stern warnings to Moscow on Saturday with little immediate effect, as Russian leaders failed to follow through on a new agreement to withdraw troops from Georgia.

Bush told reporters at his Texas ranch that Russia took "a hopeful step" earlier in the day with an agreement to cease hostilities and pull back its forces. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the deal at the Black Sea resort of Sochi after meeting with Russia's Security Council, according to a Russian news agency.

But Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said later that "extra security measures" were necessary before any troops could be removed -- a stance that U.S. and Georgian officials said was at odds with the French-negotiated agreement.

"Now Russia needs to honor its agreement and remove its forces and, of course, end military operations," Bush said.

Bush also explicitly warned Russia that it should not try to seize control of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two Russian-backed breakaway provinces at the heart of the military dispute. "There's no room for debate on this matter," he said.

The developments appeared to worsen the nine-day, Cold War-style standoff between Western allies and Russia, which has left troops encamped in Georgia despite intensifying diplomatic efforts and condemnations by U.S. and European leaders.

Bush and his aides have deployed increasingly tough rhetoric during the past week in condemning Russia's incursion into Georgia, with the president accusing Moscow of "bullying and intimidation" on Friday. The administration has also sent humanitarian aid to the country using U.S. military planes and troops, and has warned Russia to keep ports, roads and other access points open.

At the same time, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has explicitly ruled out the use of military force. The administration has focused instead on possibly isolating Russia by removing it from, or blocking its entry into, international organizations.

The United States and Poland also signed a deal Thursday for a missile interception system that U.S. officials say is aimed at blocking attacks from Iran and other enemies. But Russia views the system as a threat; one general was quoted on Friday as saying that Poland would expose itself to "a strike" if it accepts the missiles.

In a bid to continue the diplomatic pressure, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to travel to Brussels this week to meet with European and NATO allies, officials said. Georgia and the Ukraine were not granted membership to NATO during a summit in Bucharest in April, but that is to be reassessed in December.

In remarks in Crawford on Saturday, Bush and Rice sought to balance encouragement of diplomatic progress with a reiteration of U.S. demands that Russia remove its troops immediately and curtail any expansionist designs.

Rice, who traveled to Texas after a diplomatic trip to Georgia's capital of Tbilisi, told reporters that Moscow's assertion that its forces could remain in Georgia for security reasons violated the language of the cease-fire agreement brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The only Russian forces allowed to remain were peacekeepers already present before the conflict broke out, she said, and the "French had very detailed notes of what their conversation with the Russians had been about."

"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.