Russia signs cease-fire, tensions remain high

16-08-2008


TBILISI, Georgia (CNN) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the cease-fire plan designed to end its military conflict with Georgia, his office said Saturday. However, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said it would not completely withdraw from Georgian territory until they had finished cleaning up ammunition, weapons and boobytraps left behind by Georgian troops.

Medvedev saw the cease-fire as "very positive," said spokesman Andrei Nesterenko.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili signed the deal Friday, during a visit from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

It has been the toughest week in east-west relations since the end of the Cold War after Georgia launched an offensive against the Russian-allied separatist government in South Ossetia and Russia responded by invading, the conflict also spreading to a second breakaway region -- Abkhazia.

The fighting has died down, but Russian troops remained within 25 miles (40 kilometers) of Georgia's capital Tbilisi Saturday, and were still on the western front around the breakaway section of Abkhazia, according to CNN's Frederik Pleitgen.

Nesterenko, speaking to CNN on Saturday, said those Russian troops were "completing security operations," which included removing "huge depots" of ammunition and equipment and boobytraps left behind by retreating Georgian troops. iReport.com: How is the Russia-Georgia conflict affecting you? The fighting has raised fears a new era of east-west confrontation was drawing closer, which was worsened Friday by Russian anger over a U.S. deal with Poland to base part of its missile shield in the country.

The deal, signed Thursday, would see U.S. interceptor rockets based in Poland and linked to an air-defense radar system in the Czech Republic.

Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, a top Russian officer, highlighted Russia's anger with the system, saying that Poland was now at risk of attack, perhaps with nuclear weapons, The Associated Press reported.

Poland moved to diffuse the situation Saturday, saying it was open to Russian inspections of the missile interceptor base, AP reported. However, the Ukraine said it was interested in joining a joint missile defense system with other European countries.

Ukraine Foreign Ministry spokesman Liubov Abravitova would not specify if it was referring to the U.S. system Ukraine also warned Russia it may not allow its ships involved in blockading Georgian ports to return to Crimea bases it leases from Ukraine.

The U.S. maintains its missile shield is to deter rogue attacks from Iran, but Russia says it is aimed at it.

The level of rhetoric on both sides has grown louder through the week, U.S. President George W. Bush chiding Russia for Cold War-style behavior in its territorial conflict with Georgia, accusing it of "bullying and intimidation."

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia would "guarantee" peace in the Caucasus region but made no commitment to remove its forces from Georgia or its breakaway territories.

Meanwhile U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Russia that it had to withdraw its troops after the cease-fire deal was reached.

Rice said international observers followed by neutral peacekeepers should be dispatched quickly to Georgia and its separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, where Russia has a peacekeeping mission. The conflict began late last week, when Georgia launched a military incursion into South Ossetia in an effort to rout separatist rebels.

Russia -- which supports the separatists, many of whom claim Russian citizenship -- has peacekeeping responsibilities for the region and responded by sending tanks into the province for what it said was peace enforcement. From there the violence spread into Georgia and Abkhazia.

Under the cease-fire, about 1,500 Russian peacekeepers are allowed to remain inside, and can do patrols about 6 kilometers outside, the "zone of conflict," a reference to South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

They are not permitted to patrol in Gori and other Georgian cities and cannot hamper aid distribution or control ports, highways or railroads, the officials said. It is unclear how many people have been killed in the conflict, but various claims put the figure in the thousands.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said Friday that it estimated that more than 118,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, citing statistics supplied by the Russian and Georgian governments.