Russia began a partial withdrawal of troops from the zone of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict, Itar-Tass learnt from a ranking official of the Russian Defence Ministry. The official said, “I mean only a partial withdrawal of military units and outfits which are not needed in South Ossetia”. He noted that some units of the combined army and air-borne troops are being withdrawn to places of their permanent deployment in Russia. On Saturday, following the signing of the plan for settling the Georgia-South Ossetian conflict, President Dmitry Medvedev instructed appropriate departments to start implementing understandings, agreed upon in the document. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that a withdrawal of Russian troops “will be made, as additional security measures concerning the peacekeeping contingent are being implemented in the area”.
