Russia agrees Georgia withdrawal

08/09/2008| IslamWeb

Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, has said Moscow will withdraw its forces from Georgia after the deployment of European Union monitors in the country.

 

Medvedev made the announcement in a joint news conference with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, and Jose Manuel Barroso, the EU commission president, with whom he had held talks in Moscow.

 

Sarkozy said Russia had agreed to withdraw all of its forces from Georgia, with the exception of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, within one month.

 

The two leaders said international talks on the future of South Ossetia would start on October 15 in Geneva, Switzerland.

 

Sarkozy brokered a six-point peace deal four weeks ago, which ended fighting that began when Russia invaded Georgia following Tbilisi's attempt to retake the separatist region by force in August.

 

Medvedev said Russia had agreed to the deployment of 200 EU observers in Georgia by October 1 in order to monitor the ceasefire.

 

PHOTO CAPTION

 

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (left) speaks with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy during talks outside Moscow.

 

Al-Jazeera