Russian Military Reiterate ‘Pullback’ Deadline

The general staff of the Russian armed forces reiterated on Thursday it would pull back troops from deep inside Georgia by August 22, as it was announced earlier by the Kremlin.

“The pullback of Russian forces is taking place at such a tempo that by the end of Aug. 22 they will be in the zone of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers,” Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsin, deputy head of the general staff, said at a news conference in Moscow on August 21.

“The artillery unit has already been pulled back from the vicinity of Gori,” he added.

Russia’s President, Dmitry Medvedev, told his French counterpart that Russia would pull back its troops from the territories deep inside Georgia by August 22, the Kremlin said late on August 19.

Georgia, however, says there is no sign of withdrawal, or pull back, as Russians call it.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Romanian President, Traian Băsescu, in Tbilisi, President Saakashvili said that Russian forces were not only dragging out the process of withdrawal, but were regrouping on the occupied territories of Georgia and taking control of strategic points.

Saakashvili also said that Akhalgori, a town which administratively is part of the former South Ossetian Autonomous District, but has never before been under the secessionist South Ossetian authorities’ control, was taken over the Russian forces and the South Ossetian militias.

Akhalgori is on the eastern edge of the South Ossetian administrative border. The town can be reached from Igoeti, a village on a halfway between Gori and Tbilisi, after turning off the major road into the north. The Russian forces have a checkpoint at Igoeti.

Saakashvili told The Associate Press on August 21, that Russia troop’s regrouping and maneuvering in Georgia was “some kind of deception game” and that the Russians were “making fun of the world.”

Reports also say that the Russian armored personnel carriers (APC) and troop trucks blocked the bridge at the entrance of port town of Poti and Russian forces excavated trenches and set up mortars facing the town.

Another group of APCs and trucks were positioned in a nearby wooded area.

Meanwhile, an explosion was heard in the vicinity of the village of Osiauri, apparently coming from the Georgian military base there, which is located just 2 kilometers away from the town of Khashuri. The latter is on the major highway in the west from the town of Gori.

“A very powerful explosion was heard,” a local resident living in western outskirts of Khashuri told Civil.Ge.

Similar reports about sound of blasts form the Osiauri military base were coming in last few days.

The Georgian officials say that the Russian military continue targeting the Georgian military infrastructure “looting and destroying bases.”

The Russian military say that their troops are targeting military infrastructure and “neutralizing huge depots” of ammunition left by the Georgian army.

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