¡¡ MOSCOW, July 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Servicemen of Georgia's rebel republic of South Ossetia on Thursday left the Georgian village ofVanati, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

    Envoy of Georgian Presidential envoy Mikhail Kareli said the pullout was the result of a negotiation between him and the leaderof the joint peacekeeping forces stationed in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone, the report said.

    Up to 200 armed South Ossetians on Wednesday night entered Vanati which is populated by Georgian ethnic Georgians and disarmed 50 Georgian servicemen there.

    The Georgian peacekeepers surrendered their weapons to avoid armed clashes and they were convoyed to the capital of South Ossetia for interrogation.

    Hours after the incident, South Ossetian forces clashed with Georgian peacekeepers in the separatist region Thursday, wounding two Georgians and kidnapping one other.

    On Tuesday, Georgian police stopped a convoy of 10 Russian trucks carrying servicemen, missiles and other military equipment to South Ossetia. Two of the trucks, containing 160 unguided missiles, were sent to Georgian capital Tbilisi, which arouses strong criticism from Moscow.

    Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned Georgia's "unlawful and provocative actions," saying the violent seizure of the military equipment was "deliberately aimed at further exacerbating the situation in South Ossetia and undermining Russian-Georgian relations."

    South Ossetia has won de facto independence from Georgia following a bloody war that ended in 1992. It has repeatedly refused to start unification talks with the central government, trying to integrate with the neighboring Russia.

    A joint peacekeeping contingent, composed of Russian, Georgian and South Ossetian troops, has been patrolling a conflict area between Georgia and South Ossetia since then, but tensions betweenGeorgia and South Ossetia have mounted in recent months.

    Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has vowed to reunify thecountry by bringing South Ossetia and another rebel region Abkhazia back under control.

    Russia insists that it respects Georgia's territorial integrityand does not support the attempt of South Ossetia, whose independence has not been internationally recognized. Enditem