RUSSIA yesterday announced the start of a withdrawal from Georgia, but President Dmitry Medvedev defiantly warned of “shattering” blows against Russia’s enemies.
Ten days after Russian forces poured into Georgia, the deputy head of Russia’s general staff, General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, said “the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers has begun”.This was disputed by Georgian authorities who said swathes of their country remained occupied.
There have also been reports of Russia moving missile launchers into South Ossetia.
“We see no signs of a pullout,” said the secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council, Alexander Lomaia.
Lomaia said there were still “dozens” of Russian checkpoints on the country’s main road and that troops remained in the northern town of Gori, near South Ossetia.
The interior ministry also claimed that 12 Russian armoured personnel carriers had probed deep into Georgian territory from the central city of Khashuri.
Medvedev was unapologetic amid mounting Western criticism, vowing a “shattering” blow against any foreign power that threatened Russian citizens.
“If someone thinks they can kill our citizens, kill soldiers and officers fulfilling the role of peacekeepers, we will never allow this,” Medvedev told a group of veterans in the Central Russian city of Kursk, Interfax news agency reported.
Correspondents with Russian troops in Gori saw no sign of a concerted withdrawal.
Military traffic across the Caucasus mountains to Russia moved in both directions.
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