Russian troops to continue to stay in Akhalgori

Agency Caucasus – Russian troops can continue to stay in the Akhalgori region of South Ossetia, said Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday in Germany.

Lavrov’s statement came in response to criticism on Friday by his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner that Russia had not wholly withdrawn its troops from Georgia.  

"Akhalgori is within South Ossetia‘s borders, so the (ceasefire) plan does not cover it," Lavrov was quoted as saying.

Russia was obliged under a ceasefire deal brokered by on behalf of the European Union to pull back its troops completely from Georgia  until October 10, Friday.

While some like Javier Solana, who serves as the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), confirmed the Russian troop pullback as being true, some others like France’s Foreign Minister remained dubious about the completion of Russian troop pullback.

Georgia still claims that Akhalgori, along with Kodor, remains within its frontiers; therefore, it does not consider Russian troop pullback complete until Russian troops leave these two areas. Russia, however, argues that they are not part of Georgian territory any more, especially after Georgia’s armed forces were drawn away from those two regions when crushed in August a military attempt by Georgia to retake South Ossetia.

HAS