Medvedev: Russian troops to pull out from Georgia by Friday

Medvedev: Russian troops to pull out from Georgia by Friday

(NSI News Source Info) MOSCOW August 20, 2008: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday Moscow will withdraw its troops from Georgia by Friday under the terms of a French-brokered peace plan, the Kremlin said in a statement. "Some of the peacekeepers will be pulled back to the temporary security zone by Aug. 22," Medvedev told his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy by phone.

"The rest of the (Russian) military contingent, which was sent to reinforce peacekeepers, will be withdrawn to South Ossetia and Russia," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Medvedev as saying. Russia declared a halt to its military offensive in Georgia last Tuesday after days of conflict in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia. Medvedev on Saturday signed the peace plan, under which Georgian troops should return to their bases and Russian forces should pull back to its previous positions. Russian troops and armored vehicles have begun to pull out from the Georgia on Monday.