MOSCOW, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Russian troops will withdraw from Georgia as
additional security measures are carried out, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said Saturday. The pace of the withdrawal would depend on "how extra
security measures for the peacekeeping force are being put into practice on the
ground," he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying in Sochi.
"This does not depend on us alone because we are constantly coming up
against some problems on the Georgian side, and everything depends on how
effectively and quickly these problems are solved," he said.
In addition, Lavrov said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered his
government to put the peace agreement into practice and take "extra security
measures" for South Ossetia.
Medvedev signed the peace plan for settling the Georgian-South Ossetian
conflict earlier in the day.
Under the document endorsed Tuesday by the presidents of Russia and France
in Moscow, Georgian troops should return to their bases while the Russian
military should pull back to its previous positions.