Russia has completed its pullback of troops in Georgia, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said Friday in a statement immediately challenged by the Georgian government. "The pullback of Russian troops and units passed without incident and was completed on time" at 7:50 pm (1550 GMT), Serdyukov said in a statement given to journalists by the Kremlin press service.
"Thus, the Russian side has fulfilled its obligations" under a French-brokered cease-fire plan, Serdyukov said. 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.
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. Despite Friday's partial withdrawal, the "zone of responsibility" that Russia says it will patrol beyond South Ossetia and Abkhazia includes long stretches of Georgia's main highway and access to the Black Sea.
Troops are to occupy Senaki and keep posts just outside the key port of Poti, something Georgia says is not allowed under the peace agreement. "They cannot stay in Senaki and Poti. Their presence there is illegal," Utiashvili said.