(13 Sep 2008) SHOTLIST
1. Army truck entering barbed-wire compound
2. Truck seen through wire, with camouflaged tent
3. Soldiers beside tent, concrete rubble in foreground
4. Soldiers opening truck sides
5. Wide, soldiers
6. Truck
7. Camouflaged tent with soldiers
8. Pan to waiting helicopter
9. Helicopter blades starting to turn
10. Helicopter hovers, flies off
STORYLINE:
A Georgian official said Russia has fulfilled its commitment to withdraw forces from several positions in western Georgia on Saturday.
Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia said the Russians pulled out of six checkpoints and temporary bases in the Black Sea port of Poti and other nearby areas on Saturday.
He said about 250 soldiers and more than 20 armoured vehicles left for the separatist Abkhazia province.
Near-empty trucks were seen arriving at a makeshift Russian army base in the village of Chkhorotsku and an army transport helicopter was seen taking of on Saturday afternoon.
The exact nature of their activities could not be independently verified.
The Kremlin had promised to withdraw from the positions by Monday (September 15th) under an agreement that European Union leaders reached with Russia last week.
Lomaia said some 1,200 Russian servicemen still remain at 19 checkpoints and other positions, 12 outside South Ossetia and seven outside Abkhazia.
Russia said it would pull out remaining servicemen by October 11 as long as a 200-strong delegation of European Union
observers was in place by October 1.
But in Vienna, confidential OSCE documents revealed that Russian forces and their separatist militia allies were deliberately keeping international monitors out of South Ossetia, where large numbers of Georgian homes have been looted and burned down.
The documents obtained on Friday by The Associated Press say Russian troops stopped some observers from entering South Ossetia as recently as two days ago.
Western governments also say Moscow's plans to maintain 7,600 troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia for the long
term violates a provision in the cease-fire calling for both sides to return to positions held before the conflict erupted.
The conflict broke out after Georgian forces launched an offensive on 7 August to retake South Ossetia.
Russian forces then routed Georgia's military and drove deep into Georgia, occupying large swaths of territory before an
initial withdrawal in late August.
The five-day war killed hundreds of people and drove over 150,000 people from their homes.
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