The withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia is going according to schedule, with the process due to be completed within the next 10 days, the Russian Ground Forces commander said on Thursday.
“They will require around 10 days to move out of their current positions and the convoys will enter Russia through South Ossetia according to schedule,” Gen. Vladimir Boldyrev said, adding that 500 Russian peacekeepers will resume operations on Friday.
Russia began pulling back troops from Georgia on Monday under a six-point plan drawn up by the Russian and French presidents. Moscow has criticized Georgian troops for not following instructions to leave the South Ossetia conflict zone.
Earlier on Thursday Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “Russia is honoring in full the six principles of the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan which was approved by the OSCE on Tuesday… Work to equip peacekeeping outposts in the security zone will be completed tomorrow [on Friday] – eight outposts are to be equipped.”
Georgia launched a major ground and air offensive to seize control of the breakaway republic of South Ossetia on August 8, prompting Russia to send tanks and thousands of troops to the region. Russia concluded its operation “to force Georgia to accept peace” on August 12.
