European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso (L), French President Nicolas Sarkozy (C)
and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev take part in a
joint news conference after their meeting at Meiendorf Castle outside
Moscow, September 8, 2008. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
MOSCOW, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy reached here on Monday a new
agreement on the implementation of a French-brokered cease-fire between Russia
and Georgia.
NEW WITHDRAWAL
DEAL
Georgian troops entered and shelled its breakaway
region of South Ossetia on early Aug. 8 in an attempt to regain control there.
Russian forces then moved in and drove Georgian troops out of the region that
was run by Russian peacekeeping forces.
A French-brokered cease-fire stopped the five-day war
on Aug. 12 in which Russia promised to withdraw its troops.
Moscow said earlier it has withdrawn all its troops
from Georgia that drove Georgian troops out of South Ossetia during the war, but
the West has been pressing Moscow on that.
"Russia is carrying out the cease-fire to the full
scale," Medvedev said, claiming that Tbilisi is moving slowly in that aspect.
According to the new agreement read live on local TV
channel by the head of state, Moscow agreed to withdraw its troops from the
buffer zone around South Ossetia within one month and after international forces
were deployed there.
Russia will also remove its checking-points and
troops from the Black Sea port of Poti given a non-use-of-force guarantee from
Georgia to its nearby breakaway region of Akbhazia, according to the new deal.
Moscow agreed to deploy 200 EU observers to Georgia by Oct. 1 to monitor the withdrawal, and an international conference on the Caucasus situation will be held on Oct. 15 in Geneva.
DISAGREE ON
RECOGNITION
Moscow recognized South Ossetia and another breakaway
region of Abkhazia as independent states on Aug. 26, a move that further angered
the West.
Sarkozy, heading a EU delegation, condemned Russia's
recognition of the self-proclaimed Caucasus regions.
"We did not agree on everything. EU condemns the
unilateral recognition by Russia to South Ossetia and Akbhazia," he said. "We
are not here negotiating the future, but to make sure the cease-fire was and is
fully implemented."
Medvedev, in response, said the recognition was "final and irrevocable" and refused to change Russia's stance though its recognition was not broadly echoed in the international community yet.
