Russia agrees troops pullout from Georgia heartland

By Francois Murphy

TBILISI (Reuters) - Russia agreed on Monday to completely withdraw its troops from Georgia's heartland within a month, but there was no commitment to scale back its military presence in two Georgian separatist regions.

Georgia welcomed the deal as a "step forward", brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on behalf of the European Union during four hours of talks with Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev.

Last month's Russian invasion, that sent forces deep into Georgia in response to an attempt by Tbilisi to retake the breakaway region of South Ossetia, drew condemnation from the West and raised fears for the security of energy supplies.

Sarkozy and Medvedev, meeting at the neo-Gothic Meiendorf Castle outside Moscow, announced an agreement to pull back hundreds of Russian troops still stationed in buffer zones inside undisputed Georgian territory.

"Europe will be very vigilant on the realization of the agreement we have reached with President Medvedev," Sarkozy said later in Tbilisi. "If this agreement is applied as I hope and as I believe, we will have avoided deaths, misery and suffering."

The French leader, accompanied by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, took the deal to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who offered cautious approval.

"I think tonight a step forward was made, a step forward on the path towards the full implementation of the six points negotiated by President Sarkozy on Aug 12," Saakashvili said.

In contrast to Russia's conciliatory tone with the EU over Georgia, tensions with the United States flared on Monday when Russia said it was sending warships for exercises in the Caribbean Sea, its biggest deployment there since the Cold War.

INTERNATIONAL FORCE

The United States said it was rescinding a U.S.-Russian civilian nuclear pact, saying the time was not right for the agreement "given the current environment."

Medvedev, after his talks with Sarkozy, made clear that he would not reverse his decision to recognize Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, a move condemned by the West.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said it would formally establish diplomatic relations with the regions on Tuesday.

"As for recognition, for us that issue is closed. From the point of view of international law, for us two new states have appeared," Medvedev said, standing alongside Sarkozy.

Medvedev said the deal on Russian troops withdrawals was made possible after the EU, represented by rotating president France, offered guarantees that pro-Western Georgia would refrain from any use of force against its separatist regions.

It still depended on the deployment of an international force to monitor the Russian troops, a contingent which would include a 200-strong EU force, according to a text of the agreement released by the Kremlin.