ussian forces were also seen preparing to leave other checkpoints in a buffer zone around South Ossetia and in western Georgia, after warnings by Georgian and US officials that Moscow might try to delay the pull-back following a Friday bomb attack. Full Story »
Posted by Peter Barnett
The military conflict was halted on Aug. 12 by a France-brokered ceasefire pact, under which Moscow promised to pull back its troops. A follow-up agreement set a timetable for the withdrawal of Russian troops as well as the deployment of foreign observer missions. The agreement obliged Russia to pull its troops out of the territory of Georgia by Oct. 10.
Moscow said it was protecting Russian citizens in South Ossetia from Georgian aggression, but Tbilisi accused Moscow of having provoked the conflict in order to cement control over the region and destabilise its pro-Western government.
The EU deployed an observer mission of more than 200 unarmed monitors at the beginning of October to oversee the Russian withdrawal from the security zones around the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
It would be a mistake to think that the Russian response to the EU initiative was prompted by any military considerations. Russia will 'take' what it wants from this conflict while keeping its economic ties with EU intact. However, the time will come when Russia a greater threat to the economic growth and stability f the EU than the USA.