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Russian troops move back into disputed village: Georgia
2008-12-13
TBILISI (AFP) - Hundreds of Russian troops have moved into a disputed Georgian village near the rebel region of South Ossetia after Russian forces previously appeared to be pulling out, Georgian police said Saturday. Interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said from 500 to 600 Russian soldiers moved into Perevi early Saturday in what he described as a "military operation" involving paratroopers, helicopters and armoured vehicles. Georgia and European Union monitors had announced Friday that Russian forces were withdrawing from Perevi, a mainly ethnic Georgian village of about 1,100 people on the western border of South Ossetia, which had been under Russian control since a five-day war in August. Georgian police had moved into the village on Friday after Russian forces withdrew. About 20 Russian soldiers returned late Friday and Georgian police were forced out when the large contingent of troops arrived, Utiashvili said. "They presented Georgian police with an ultimatum: get out or we will shoot," he said. He said a delegation of European ambassadors visiting the area was prevented from entering the village. A spokeswoman for the 225-member European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia, which is monitoring a ceasefire that ended the August war, confirmed that Russian forces had returned to Perevi but could not say how many. "It's still unclear what the Russians are up to," the spokeswoman said. "We don't have a clear picture of whether they are planning to stay." Georgia has accused Russia of violating the EU-brokered ceasefire agreement by refusing to withdraw from Perevi and other positions that had been under Tbilisi's control before the war. Georgia has also called for Russia to withdraw from the Akhalgori district in South Ossetia and the Kodori Gorge in Georgia's other separatist region, Abkhazia. Both areas were under Tbilisi's control prior to the conflict. Russian forces moved deep into Georgia in August to repel a Georgian military attempt to retake South Ossetia, which had received extensive backing from Moscow since breaking away from Tbilisi's control in the early 1990s. They later withdrew to within South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which Moscow recognised as independent states.
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