Russian armor seen pulling back in west Georgia

ZUGDIDI, Georgia (Reuters) - A column of about 150 Russian military vehicles left Georgia proper on Friday and pulled back into the breakaway region of Abkhazia on the Black Sea, a Reuters cameraman said.

The cameraman saw the convoy, which stretched for 2 km (1.25 mile) and included tank and armored personnel carriers, crossing the de facto border into Abkhazia.

Earlier, a Reuters photographer had seen the column heading towards Abkhazia from Senaki, a town in western Georgia where Russian forces had earlier seized one of the Georgian military's main bases.

Western states have been demanding that Russia withdraw the troops it sent deep into Georgia's heartland earlier this month after they defeated a Georgian attempt to retake a second breakaway region, South Ossetia.