French President Nicolas Sarkozy won a pledge from Russia Monday to pull back all its troops from Georgia within a month, but made no commitment to scale back its military presence in the rebel regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. After about four hours of talks at a neo-Gothic castle outside Moscow, Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced an agreement to pull back hundreds of Russian troops still stationed in buffer zones inside undisputed Georgian territory. Sarkozy said a new agreement stipulates “in one month, the complete pull-out of Russian forces from Georgian territory, outside South Ossetia and Abkhazia.” Medvedev said he had also agreed on the deployment of at least 200 EU observers in Georgia by October 1 to monitor a ceasefire as Russian troops withdraw. “(We agreed to) accelerate deployment of observers in the zones... in sufficient number to replace Russian peacekeeping roles by October 1 2008, including at least 200 observers from the European Union,” Medvedev said. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said the deal on the pullback of Russian troops was a step forward. “I think tonight a step forward was made, a step forward on the path towards the full implementation of the six points negotiated by President (Nicolas) Sarkozy on Aug 12,” Saakashvili said following talks with Sarkozy in Tbilisi. The Russia leader insisted, however, that his decision to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states was final and irrevocable and announced that international talks on the regions would be held October 15 in Geneva. In a snub to Western governments, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement it would on Tuesday formally establish diplomatic relations with the Moscow-backed regions. “As for recognition, for us that issue is closed. From the point of view of international law, for us two new states have appeared,” Medvedev said, standing alongside Sarkozy. He said Russia had already prepared cooperation agreements with Abkhazia and South Ossetia including one on military assistance. “No one should have any doubts about that,” he said. Sarkozy said that negotiations on a new EU-Russia partnership agreement could resume “as early as October” if Moscow fulfills a series of measures agreed. Sarkozy was in Moscow at the head of an EU delegation seeking to enforce the terms of a peace deal he brokered last month to end a five-day war between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway provinces. Russian troops entered Georgia last month to push back Georgian forces attempting to regain control of South Ossetia, the Moscow-backed region that broke away from Tbilisi in the early 1990s. Russia halted its offensive after five days but did not withdraw all its troops from Georgian territory. It has since recognized South Ossetia and the second breakaway region of Abkhazia as independent states. In contrast to Russia's conciliatory tone with the EU over Georgia, tensions with the United States flared on Monday when Russia said it was sending warships for exercises in the Caribbean Sea, its biggest deployment there since the Cold War. The United States said it was rescinding a US-Russian civilian nuclear pact, saying the time was not right for the agreement “given the current environment.”
