Russian troops have begun pulling out of Georgia in line with the French-brokered six-point peace plan, a senior Russian military official said Tuesday.
"We shall comply with all of the six items of the plan at a pace the situation allows for," Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.
Under the agreement, Russia will pull back the reinforcements attached to the peacekeepers, Nogovitsyn said, adding that the pullback will proceed more intensively once the extra peacekeeping posts are in place by Aug. 22.
Meanwhile, the Russian military will remain in Georgia's Black Sea port of Poti to help with the formation of a new local administration, said Nogovitsyn.
He also pledged "rational use" of some of the arms and military equipment abandoned by Georgian forces in South Ossetia, Georgia's breakaway region.
"We will keep the serviceable weapons and equipment and destroy the rest to prevent them from falling into the hands of those who started this bloody war," he said.
Russia has no plans to equip its Baltic Fleet with nuclear weapons in response to U.S. plans to deploy its missile defense system in Europe, Nogovitsyn added.
Russia declared a halt to its military offensive in Georgia last Tuesday after days of conflict in South Ossetia. According to Russian figures, around 1,600 civilians were killed during the hostilities.
Source:Xinhua
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