UK NEWS

RUSSIA 'FOOLING WEST' ON PULLOUT

Russian troops

Wednesday August 20,2008

By Will Stewart in Moscow

GEORGIA accused Russia yesterday of seeking to fool the West that it is sending its troops back home.

At the same time, Nato insisted that there could be no more “business as usual” with Moscow.

Seven Russian armoured vehicles, three tanks and other army vehicles left the strategic city of Gori, 35 miles from the capital Tbilisi.

But the Russians showed no signs of leaving the Black Sea port of Poti, where their forces detained 20 Georgian police
officers, blindfolding them and seizing their Hummer vehicles.

There were also reports that Russians were seen looting government buildings in two Georgian regions.

The Georgian Interior Ministry insisted that a trickle of Russian troops pulling back was “a show aimed at creating the illusion of a withdrawal”.

Spokesman Shota Utiashvili said: “No tank, no Russian soldier has left Georgia.”

About Poti, he said: “They entered the civilian port and kicked everyone out.

“The Russians arrested the port security staff, 20 of them, who are police officers.”

Russian troops were supposed to have started leaving on Monday – six days after a ceasefire was negotiated, ending the conflict over the Georgian region of South Ossetia, which is run by Moscow-backed separatists.

After an emergency meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels yesterday, Nato warned Moscow to expect a deterioration in relations.

The meeting came after US pressure to freeze regular contacts with Russia until its troops withdraw from Georgia in line with the ceasefire deal.

But the alliance stopped short of accelerating Georgia’s efforts to join Nato, an ambition which enraged Russia even before the two-week-old conflict.

“We have determined that we cannot continue with business as usual,” the 26 Nato states said in a joint declaration.
“We call on Russia to demonstrate – both in word and deed – its continued commitment to the principles upon which we agreed to base our relationship.”

The Nato statement drew sharp condemnation from Moscow, where Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the alliance of bias and wanting to support a “criminal regime” in Tbilisi.

Russia then inflamed the situation by claiming it had secret documents proving that foreign monitors from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe had aided the Georgian seizure of South Ossetia – an act which led directly to the conflict in the first place.