Sarkozy shuttled from Moscow to Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. He and Saakashvili told reporters at a late-night news conference that they had persuaded Medvedev to drop language referring to future talks about South Ossetia, but Russian news accounts noted no such changes.
Saakashvili also told reporters that he agreed to the "general principles" of the deal but said he saw no reason to sign it as it was only a "political document," the Associated Press reported.
Medvedev, a close ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, had already announced a halt to his country's military counteroffensive against Georgia, which defied Russia last week by launching an attack on South Ossetia. Medvedev said Russian troops would return to their previous positions.
Putin said the Russian "peacekeeping contingent" had accomplished its goal, according to Russia's Interfax news agency. "The aggressor has been punished, and its armed forces have been disorganized."
One Georgian analyst called the conditions proposed by Russia humiliating because, among other things, they did not mention maintaining the country's territorial integrity.
"We have no other choice because no other country came to our aid," said Alexander Rondeli, president of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies.
The Bush administration responded cautiously. Speaking outside the White House after briefing President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. was still awaiting a cessation of Russia's offensive.
"The Russians need to stop their military operations, as they have apparently said that they will, but those military operations really do now need to stop, because calm needs to be restored," Rice said.
Although there were steps toward calm, the situation remained volatile. A Dutch television journalist was killed in a bombing in the central Georgian city of Gori, according to Reporters Without Borders, a media advocacy group. Stan Storimans, 39, became the fourth journalist killed in five days of fighting.
Witnesses and medical personnel said Russia bombed Gori's main square and primary thoroughfare, hitting the post office, military hospital and university.
There also was heavy bombing and shelling in surrounding Georgian villages. Casualties poured into Republic Hospital on the edge of Tbilisi, which is now entirely dedicated to casualties from the front. Ordinarily a 200-bed hospital, the facility was enlarged to 300 beds after its staff reopened a defunct wing and moved extra cots into the rooms.
