Russia armor seen pulling back from Georgia

A Reuters cameraman in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali saw dozens of tanks and armored personnel carriers arriving in the town from the south. The Interfax news agency said the column was heading north towards the Russian border.

The Kremlin had promised to pull back Russian forces from core areas of Georgia by Friday under a French-brokered ceasefire plan but until early Thursday there had been no sign of significant troop movements.

While reporting the movement of the armored convoy from central Georgia to Russia, Interfax withdrew an earlier reference to a pullback from the key town of Gori.

The United States accused Russia on Wednesday of dragging its feet, saying the size and pace of the pullout had been insignificant and needed to increase.

The West fears Moscow may use ambiguities in a ceasefire deal and previous agreements to keep large numbers of extra troops in and around rebel South Ossetia to step up economic and political pressure on Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

The crisis erupted on Aug. 7-8 when the small Caucasus state, which has a border with Russia, tried to retake South Ossetia, a pro-Moscow region which broke with Tbilisi in 1992.

Russian forces hit back, thrusting beyond the region into the Georgian heartland, overrunning the army in fierce fighting.

Moscow has not committed so far to returning all of its troop reinforcements to base, as foreseen in the six-point peace plan.

Diplomacy at the U.N. Security Council to end the crisis moved up a notch when Russia circulated a draft resolution endorsing a six-point plan already agreed by Moscow and Tbilisi. But the West wants to clarify parts of that plan it fears could allow Russia scope for further military action inside Georgia.

A Reuters reporter at Verkhny Zaramag, on the border between Russia and South Ossetia, said the only heavy armor heading north on Wednesday via the crossing was a column of Georgian equipment seized by Russian forces.

He saw eight armored personnel carriers, followed by three T-72 main battle tanks. The tanks had markings on their turrets in Latin script. Russian armor has Cyrillic markings.

Earlier, the reporter saw about 40 trucks covered with tarpaulins, some apparently empty, crossing the frontier.

Russian checkpoints were still in place on the axis road between Igoeti, the closest Russian presence to the capital, Tbilisi, and Gori. Many Russian soldiers were wearing the insignia of peacekeepers.

Germany, Russia's biggest trading partner, described the situation in Georgia as "very unsatisfactory".

"Both the size and pace of the withdrawal needs to increase and needs to increase sooner rather than later... I don't think they need any more additional time," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters aboard Air Force One.

DIPLOMATIC WRANGLING
The Kremlin has said some of its troops would withdraw to a buffer zone on Friday.

"The remaining portion of the contingent that was sent to reinforce the Russian peacekeeping mission will withdraw to the territory of South Ossetia and to Russia," a Kremlin statement said.

It appeared unlikely Russia could pull out by Friday any large proportion of the troops, artillery and heavy armor that it poured into the territory over four days two weeks ago.

Despite diplomatic wrangling, Russia's envoy to NATO said cooperation with the Atlantic alliance remained vital and that Moscow would behave in a pragmatic manner. On Tuesday, NATO agreed to freeze regular contact with Russia over Georgia.

"There will definitely not be a cold war," Dmitry Rogozin told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Russia said it had lost 64 military dead and Georgia announced 215 dead, including 69 civilians. Russia previously said 1,600 South Ossetian civilians died after Georgia attacked the province. This figure has not been independently verified.

Photo: Reuters