Russian troops prepared yesterday to start a tentative pull-out from Georgia as Moscow vowed to strengthen its military after last month’s war.
As the troops readied to move to the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin dismissed Western accusations that Russia’s military intervention into Georgia was part of an “imperial” agenda.
“We do not have and will not have any of the imperial ambitions that people accuse us of,” Putin said in the southern resort of Sochi.
On the ground there were increasing signs Russian forces were withdrawing in line with pledges made on Monday by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev after he met an EU delegation in Moscow.
Troops were making preparations to leave at three of the posts mentioned in the agreement, one near Poti and the other two near Senaki, which has a strategic airbase that was bombed by Russia during the Aug. 8 to Aug. 12 conflict.
“We want to leave as soon as possible ... We’re just waiting for orders to leave,” a soldier said at a checkpoint at the entrance to Poti, a key oil terminal and naval base that was also bombed by Russian jets.
While Russian troops are leaving most of Georgia, they will remain in the rebel regions at the heart of last month’s conflict, estimated to have killed hundreds of people on both sides. Tens of thousands fled their homes.
Medvedev said Georgia’s Aug. 7 assault on South Ossetia meant Russia would have to think about re-arming its military.
Medvedev said: “We should concentrate on questions of military re-equipment. Without any doubt this decision is influenced by the crisis in the Caucasus, Georgia’s aggression and its continued militarization.”
Speaking to a group of Western experts on Thursday, South Ossetia’s leader, Eduard Kokoity, said that union with Russia was his region’s goal, a statement that threatened to undermine part of Russia’s justification for military intervention.
Kokoity quickly reversed himself.
“I have probably been misunderstood,” he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. “We are not going to relinquish our independence, which we won at the cost of colossal sacrifices and South Ossetia is not going to become part of Russia.”
Russia recognized South Ossetia as an independent nation, along with another separatist region, Abkhazia, after last month’s war. Both have had de facto independence for more than a decade since breaking away from Georgian control during fighting in the early 1990s.
Many have expected that Russia would ultimately seek to absorb South Ossetia and unite its residents with their ethnic brethren in North Ossetia. Kokoity acknowledged as much.
“Yes, many in South Ossetia are talking about reunification with North Ossetia within Russia and nobody can ban expressing such ideas,” he was quoted as saying.
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