Güncelleme Tarihi:
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was to address a high-profile group of Western foreign-policy experts as the Kremlin appeared to be stepping up a media campaign in defense of its action over
He and
"What amazes me... is the strength of the West’s propaganda machine. It is simply stunning, amazing," Putin said in the southern resort of
He dismissed accusations that
"We do not have and will not have any of the imperial ambitions that people accuse us of," Putin said.
Tbilisi said little was changing on the ground despite a fresh commitment from Medvedev on Monday that all Russian troops would be out of Georgia within a month apart from two rebel regions at the centre of last months conflict.
"There has been no sign of a withdrawal," Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP.
"They are making preparations, we can see that, but in terms of reducing the number of personnel, its still the same as it was. Since last week they have been saying they are going to leave in a couple of days."
Troops did appear to be making preparations to leave at least three of the five posts which under the latest accord must be clear by early next week.
The war started when Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili launched a massive assault on August 7 to regain control of the breakaway
The West, particularly the
Medvedev has agreed to pull out all troops from buffer zones surrounding the regions within 10 days of the deployment of EU ceasefire observers on October 1.
The European Union wants the monitors to be allowed into Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has said he is considering sending a fact-finding mission to
Medvedev said Monday that an international conference on the regions would take place in
In the
"For
Photo: AFP