Georgia signs ceasefire accord with Russia

TBILISI, Aug 15: Georgia on Friday signed a ceasefire agreement seeking to end its conflict with Russia, as US President George Bush accused Moscow of using “bullying” tactics in the standoff.

“With the signing of this accord, all Russian troops, and any paramilitary and irregular troops that entered with them must leave immediately,” US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Tbilisi.

Despite the accord, brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier this week, Russian armoured vehicles and tanks remained deep inside Georgian territory, some even pressing further towards the capital Tbilisi.

Rice, whose visit to Tbilisi was seen as a show of support for President Mikheil Saakashvili’s pro-Western government, criticised the Russians for not honouring their promises to halt military operations in Georgia.

“The verbal assurance that President (Dmitry) Medvedev gave that Russian military operations had stopped... clearly was not honoured,” Rice said.

Scores of Russian armoured vehicles were concentrated at a base outside Gori, a strategically key town half-way between Tbilisi and the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia which was the spark for the conflict.

A reporter late on Friday saw a convoy of 10 Russian armoured personnel carriers move from Gori before stopping in a position just 40 kilometres from Tbilisi.

Bush meanwhile complained of Moscow’s “bullying” and called on Russia to honour its pledge to withdraw its troops.

“Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century,” he said, adding that Russia had damaged its credibility with the West by its offensive against Georgia. “Moscow must honour its commitment to withdraw its invading forces from all Georgian territory,” Bush said outside the Oval Office.

Russian troops entered Georgia in response to a Georgian offensive on Aug 7 to retake South Ossetia, which broke away in the 1990s.

Russia strongly supports South Ossetia and the second breakaway region of Abkhazia and has given Russian passports to most people in the territories.

“A significant part of Georgian territory remains under foreign military occupation,” Saakashvili said alongside Rice.

“Never, ever will Georgia reconcile itself with the occupation of even one square kilometre of its territory,” Saakashvili added.

Rice said that the United States favoured the deployment of a “neutral” international peacekeeping force in Georgia.

As tensions flared between Moscow and Washington, Medvedev also clashed over the crisis with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during talks at the Black Sea resort of Sochi.—AFP