Russi and Georgia negotiate handover of key town

By Matt Robinson

GORI, Georgia (Reuters) - Georgian officials and Russian soldiers faced each other at the frontline on Thursday to negotiate the handover of a strategic town plagued by looting.

Georgian forces, who abandoned the area three days ago, are anxious to get back following accounts by human rights groups and refugees of widespread looting by marauding militia in Georgian villages north of the town.

Flanked by plainclothes guards and wearing body armour, Georgia's security council secretary Kakha Lomaia met the commander of the Russian soldiers who the day before had driven into Gori, 60 km (35 miles) from the Georgian capital.

"We're trying to arrange a peaceful pullout of the Russian army," Lomaia told journalists before driving off with Russian army officers in an off-road vehicle towards Gori.

Russia supported separatists in the breakaway region of South Ossetia, north of Gori, in a war against Georgia which flared last week. Moscow says its soldiers entered Gori on Wednesday, barely 24 hours after a ceasefire, to destroy Georgian military equipment and secure a nearby arms depot.

Russian tanks blocked roads into the town on Thursday and soldiers stood watching, smoking cigarettes. Underlining the sense of lawlessness, a hidden gunman fired a shot at a Georgian reporter speaking to camera, the bullet grazing her arm.

Russian forces bombed Georgian military positions around Gori last weekend, also hitting an apartment block. On Thursday, the town was practically deserted, only elderly people left milling around the main square.

Despite Georgian assertions that Russian forces had destroyed the city, there was little damage to the buildings.