Russia pulls back troops, Georgia demands more

By Dmitry Solovyov and Margarita Antidze

KARALETI, Georgia (Reuters) - Russia pulled back its troops on Wednesday from buffer zones it set up on Georgian territory during a summer war, but Georgia demanded it take further steps before a deadline of Friday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said troops had removed all six of their checkpoints in the buffer zone around Georgia's rebel province of South Ossetia, ahead of the Friday deadline stipulated by a French-brokered ceasefire deal.

Russian troops remain inside South Ossetia and a second, pro-Russian breakaway region, Abkhazia, which Moscow has recognized as independent states and promised to protect.

"At 2030 Moscow time (1630 GMT) the last column of Russian peacekeepers withdrew into South Ossetia. The pullback is completed," Igor Konashenkov, aide to the commander of the Russian military's ground forces, told Reuters.

Troops were also seen pulling back from close to Abkhazia.

"Russia seems to have completed most of the withdrawal," said Hansjoerg Haber, head of an EU monitoring mission, adding that his team was still verifying the situation on the ground.

Russia sent tanks and troops in August to repel a Georgian military assault to retake South Ossetia. Its heavy counter-offensive drew condemnation from the West, and deepened fears over the security of the Caucasus as a transit route for oil and gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe, bypassing Russia.

A Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman said the pullback from the buffer zones was complete.