Russian occupying forces say they are "peacekeepers"

BBC:

Russia says it has fulfilled a pledge to withdraw its combat troops from Georgia in line with a ceasefire deal.

But Moscow says it intends to maintain a peacekeeping presence of 2,500 troops in "buffer zones" around the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The Georgian government has denounced the move as unacceptable.

The White House said checkpoints and buffer zones were "definitely not part of the agreement", and called for an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops.

The "buffer zones" extend far beyond any pre-existing security zones, and the BBC's diplomatic correspondent, Jonathan Marcus, says Western diplomats fear that Moscow is determined to define the parameters of the interim security arrangements in its own terms.

See a map of the region

Our correspondent says that part of the problem is the extraordinary vagueness of the EU-brokered ceasefire deal, which speaks only of "additional security measures" in "the immediate proximity of South Ossetia" - proximity being defined as a distance of "several kilometres".

While Georgia insists that Russian troops must leave its territory, a senior Russian general said the situation remained unstable, accusing Georgia of planning further military operations.

Following a statement by the Russian defence ministy that the withdrawal was complete, US President George W Bush and his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, expressed their disatisfaction.

They agreed in a telephone call that "Russia is not in compliance" with the ceasefire pact and it should comply immediately, US officials said.

"[The Russians] have without a doubt failed to live up to their obligations. Establishing checkpoints, buffer zones are definitely not part of the agreement," the White House said.

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There is no ambiguity about the statement coming out of the US. Nor should their be. This is yet another example of Russian bad faith in dealing with Georgia. The Russians can produce zero evidence of any threat from the Georgia forces because there is not any. In fact the Russians are staying in hopes of provoking an attack from Georgia in order to use that as an excuse to subjugate the rest of the country.