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West has no say on troops in South Ossetia: Moscow

Only Russia and the “states” of South Ossetia and Abkhazia will decide how many troops Moscow can keep on their soil, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Saturday, signaling the Kremlin will do as it pleases in the separatist Georgian regions regardless of Western demands.

The statement was in frank defiance of calls by Georgia, the US and the EU for a withdrawal of most Russian troops from the breakaway territories, which only Russia and Nicaragua have recognized as countries.

Thumbing its nose at Georgia and the US, South Ossetia rolled what Russian media said were captured US-made Jeeps and Georgian tanks through the streets of its capital in an Independence Day military parade.

Putin said Russia would adhere to its promise to pull back from the strips of land surrounding South Ossetia and Abkhazia once EU monitors are deployed. Those areas are Georgian territory, he said.

But he said any “possible” Russian pullout from South Ossetia and Abkhazia themselves was a “separate issue,” suggesting Moscow’s recognition of the separatist regions as independent nations had changed the rules.

“The question of the presence of our armed forces on these territories will be decided bilaterally, in the framework of international law and on the basis of agreements between Russia and these states,” Putin told a news conference in the seaside resort of Sochi with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.

The remarks showed Russia would continue to ignore Western calls to pull nearly all its forces out of Georgia.

The US and European countries say Russia is violating its commitment to withdraw its forces to pre-conflict positions. Russia has announced plans to maintain nearly 8,000 troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, far more than in the months before the war.

Putin said Russia has no intention of annexing any land, saying it was “solely a question of providing security in the region.”

Putin said that by backing Kosovo’s declaration of independence in February, Western countries had ruined any argument against Russia’s recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

“It is not we who opened this Pandora’s box,” he said.
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