MOSCOW — The Russian military said Monday that it had begun pulling back troops that had swarmed into the nation of Georgia last week. But U.S. and Georgian officials and news reports indicated that, at least initially, little had changed on the ground.
Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of Russia's general staff, told reporters at a regular briefing here that Russian forces had started the process of leaving Georgia proper as part of a cease-fire signed in recent days by the two nations' presidents.
"Today in accordance with the decision of the president of the Russian Federation, the disengagement of troops from the areas temporarily held by the units of the [Russian] armed forces has begun," Nogovitsyn said in the televised briefing.
In Washington, a Pentagon official said the U.S. had not seen signs of significant movement by Russian troops.
"There is no indication to us that they have begun to pull back," said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the U.S. assessment of Russian military moves. "We see no evidence of a rush to withdrawal."
Georgia's Foreign Ministry charged that Russians had in fact reentered some military positions in western Georgia and had installed land mines on bridges near key cities in central and western parts of the country. Georgian television showed footage of Russian armored vehicles crushing police vehicles that Georgian officials reportedly refused to move at a checkpoint at Igoeti, a town about 25 miles west of Tbilisi, the capital.
Moscow sent troops across the border Aug. 7 after Georgian forces moved against South Ossetia, a pro-Russian area of Georgia that broke from the central government in the early 1990s and has been largely autonomous since. Russian leaders charged that Georgian troops had killed Ossetian civilians and Russian peacekeepers based in the breakaway region.
The Russians have interpreted the cease-fire deal signed Saturday by President Dmitry Medvedev to mean that they must only remove troops from most undisputed parts of Georgia, but can keep them in South Ossetia and a murky security zone outside the breakaway republic, as well as in Abkhazia, another Georgian region seeking independence. The troops will remain, the Russians said, to stamp out alleged insurgents.
"Increased subversive and terrorist activities against Russian troops and South Ossetian civilians were recorded," Nogovitsyn noted at the briefing. "They have never been stopped and are on the increase now."
