Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Friday he signed a cease-fire accord that orders Russian troops to withdraw from his country, calling the Russians barbarians who had been plotting for months to invade and occupy his country's sovereign soil. | No kidding ... |
| They tried to tell you that you were being set up and that they weren't going to pull your chestnuts out of the fire, but you didn't listen. |
He later said that Russian tanks had moved on two more towns in central Georgia, widening their "occupation." Saakashvili said the tanks had moved to the towns of Khashari and Borjomi southwest of South Ossetia. "We now have an increasing area of Russian occupation of our territory," Saakashvili told reporters several hours after signing the cease-fire agreement. Saakashvili's claim could not be independently verified and Russian officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Rice, visiting the Georgian capital Tbilisi in efforts to secure a peace deal between the warring states, said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had also signed the pact - and that Russian troops must now withdraw from Georgia as outlined in the deal brokered earlier in the week by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "Georgia has been attacked. Russian forces need to leave Georgia at once," she said calling for the immediate and orderly withdrawal of Moscow's military and all paramilitary troops that went with the convoys. "The Russian pullout must take place - and take place now," she said, speaking at the pro-Western Georgian leader's side at a joint news conference outside his presidential palace in central Tbilisi.
Rice flew to the Georgian capital Friday to discuss the cease-fire with Saakashvili after meeting with Sarkozy in Paris, saying the immediate goal was to get Russian combat forces out of Georgia. She warned that Russia's military action had wider implications for its relationship with the U.S. - and the West.
Rice consulted with Saakashvili about details of the cease-fire, which requires Russia to withdraw its combat forces from Georgia but allows Russian peacekeepers to remain in the breakaway region of South Ossetia and conduct limited patrols outside the region.
The draft document also does not commit Russia to respecting Georgia's territorial integrity, but rather refers to Georgian independence and sovereignty, meaning Moscow does not necessarily accept that South Ossetia and the other rebel region Abkhazia, are Georgian. Officials say the eventual status of the two areas will be worked out under existing United Nations Security Council resolutions which recognize Georgia's international borders and Abkhazia and South Ossetia as Georgian.
The U.S. and its allies had been pushing for Russia to agree to restore the situation in Georgia to the status quo ante, or how it stood before Georgian troops moved into South Ossetia last week prompting Russia's severe response and seven days of bloodshed. Now they have been forced to back down on the key issues of the mandate of Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia, which did not previously include outside patrols, and the territorial integrity question, which Russia ostensibly accepted before but no longer does.
U.S. officials concede the agreement is not perfect but maintain it will get Russian combat troops out of Georgia, hopefully in a matter of days. "It will be a major accomplishment for Georgia to get the Russians out of their country and back effectively to the status quo ante," Rice said.
In addition to the cease-fire document, Rice brought with her a letter signed by Sarkozy that clarifies the special security measures that Russian peacekeepers will be allowed to take on Georgian soil, officials said.
Sarkozy welcomed Georgia's signature of the ceasefire accord ending the hostilities with Russia and said the way was clear for a UN Security Council resolution to end the crisis. "The President of the Republic considers that the conditions are now in place for the rapid adoption of a resolution by the Security Council and the definition of an international mechanism which will be charged with overseeing the implementation of the agreement on the ground," Sarkozy's office said in a statement.