EU's Solana confirms Russia withdrawal in Georgia

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russian forces have pulled out of areas of Georgia outside South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as agreed with the European Union after the war there in August, the EU's foreign policy chief said Friday.

"I am happy to announce that the EU Monitoring Mission patrols have confirmed that Russian armed forces have completed their planned withdrawal from the areas adjacent to Abkhazia and South Ossetia," Javier Solana said in a statement.

"This withdrawal will, we hope, allow internally displaced people to return to their homes and contribute to the normalisation of living conditions in these areas," he said.

(Reporting by Paul Taylor, editing by Dale Hudson)