President Orders End to Russian Military Operations in Georgia

The Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, today ordered an end to the military offensive in Georgia, the Kremlin said.

Medvedev said Russian forces had punished Georgia and re-established security for Russian peacekeepers and civilians in the separatist South Ossetia region.

"I have taken the decision to bring to an end the operation to force the Georgian authorities to peace," a Kremlin spokesman quoted the president as saying.

However, Medvedev also told troops to defend themselves against any further "aggressive" action or armed resistance by Georgian forces.

Earlier, the Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, said his country had been split in two as Russian forces continued to advance.

Saakashvili said the main east-west route through Georgia had been cut off, separating the east of the country from its western Black Sea coast.

He accused Moscow of "ethnic cleansing" in the breakaway province of Abkhazia, where local forces were today reported to be trying to remove Georgian troops from the northern area of the Kodori gorge.

The Abkhaz forces' operation was announced by Sergei Shamba, the foreign minister of the Abkhaz separatist government, who said a UN observer mission in the area had been warned and had withdrawn.

"Everything is developing according to plan," he said.

The military clashes continued as the French president, Nicholas Sarkozy, traveled to the capitals of Russia and Georgia in an attempt to mediate in the conflict.

The UN and Nato were also meeting today as the west stepped up efforts to persuade Russia to agree a ceasefire with its US-backed neighbor.

Violence began in South Ossetia, the other Russian-backed separatist province in Georgia, last week.

However, Russian forces have advanced much further into Georgia and are now only a few hours from the capital, Tbilisi.

Moscow has denied it has any intention of marching on the city. Saakhashvili has urged residents not to panic, saying they would have seven or eight hours' warning of any impending troop advance.

Russian officials denied Georgian claims that soldiers had occupied the central town of Gori, which has been bombarded by air strikes.

Speaking after an emergency UN security council meeting last night, the Georgian UN ambassador, Irakli Alasania, said: "A full military invasion of Georgia is going on."