Russia says it will start pulling out from Georgia

By Margarita Antidze

TBILISI (Reuters) - Russia announced it would begin withdrawing forces from Georgia on Monday after a war that dealt a humiliating blow to the Black Sea state and raised fears for energy supplies to Europe.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, whose failed invasion of the pro-Russian breakaway region of South Ossetia triggered a Russian backlash that shocked the West, called for international monitoring of the pullout.

"I think the world should watch," he told a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Tbilisi. Merkel said the world would indeed be watching for Russia to withdraw quickly under the terms of a six-point peace plan brokered by France.

The United States, which has warned Moscow its military actions in the former Soviet republic could seriously damage relations with the West, urged Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to withdraw troops quickly.

"This time I hope he means it," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told NBC's "Meet the Press". "The word of the Russian president needs to be upheld by his forces or people are going to begin to wonder if Russia can be trusted."

Moscow has given no firm deadline for its complete withdrawal. A statement from the Kremlin read: "From tomorrow (Monday), Russia will begin the withdrawal of the military contingent which was moved to reinforce Russian peacekeepers after the Georgian aggression against South Ossetia."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Russia must withdraw "without delay", adding that he would call European Union leaders to an extraordinary summit on the crisis if the peace deal were not respected "rapidly and totally".

LOOTING

Underlining continued high tension, Russia's Defence Ministry said Georgia was planning a "major provocative act" in the city of Gori, captured by Russian forces on Tuesday as they fanned out from the disputed region into the Georgian heartland.

It said Georgia was forming bands of mercenaries who would be given Russian uniforms and told to loot and pillage.

Georgia issued a swift denial. "Such a provocation would only be staged by the Russian side, with the aim of keeping Russian military units in the conflict zone," the Georgian Interior Ministry said in a statement.

A United Nations aid convoy which entered Gori on Sunday reported evidence of large-scale looting. "While the buildings did not appear to be very damaged, there are clear signs of massive looting of both shops and private accommodations," the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.

Russian troops remained in position around Gori, which commands the approaches to South Ossetia and the main east-west highway and should be central to covering a Russian withdrawal.

Major-General Vyacheslav Borisov, now a familiar figure touring the area of his command around Gori in a Georgian four-wheel drive, could not say when he would be moving out.

"We were the first in, so we'll be the last out," Borisov told Reuters at the roadside near Gori.