Fighting died down in South Ossetia yesterday as Georgia pulled troops back from its separatist pro-Moscow region after an unprecedented show of force that infuriated Russia and worried Washington.
An AFP reporter saw the last tanks and other artillery being withdrawn from the region by Georgian troops and there were rumors that a new round of peace talks involving Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania could be held in the region later yesterday.
But Georgian troops leaving the region wanted to press on into South Ossetia instead of being pulled back, fulfilling the new leadership's dream of winning hold over the fractured former Soviet republic.
"It's a mistake that we are being pulled back. If a war starts, we will never be able to make it back in. We cannot trust these negotiations," said David Hubuluri, a deputy colonel in the Georgian army.
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