Russian Troops to Stay in Abkhazia and South Ossetia

Russia said today its troops would stay in the breakaway Georgian provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia for a long time to come, a day after Moscow agreed to pull its forces out of other Georgian territory within the month.

Yesterday's deal, between France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, specifically excluded Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The future of the two enclaves, which Moscow recognized as independent last month, will be discussed at an international conference in Geneva on October 15.

But Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said Russia's military presence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia was necessary in order to avert Georgian attempts to regain control.

He said troops would remain for the foreseeable future, though he did not indicate how many soldiers would be based in the area. Russia would sign formal agreements with both regions on the extent of the military presence.

Lavrov's comments will heighten tensions with Georgia, which regards South Ossetia and Abkhazia as inseparable parts of the country.

In a cautious welcome to yesterday's deal, Georgia's president, Mikhail Saakashvili, reiterated his country's claim to the regions. The Russians, he said, "should get the hell out of the territories they control".

Describing the deal as "momentous", Sarkozy said Moscow had agreed to scrap its checkpoints inside Georgia within a week and had promised to remove all forces from areas adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia within a month.

The agreement also envisaged the deployment of a 200-strong force of EU observers to Georgia by October 1, Sarkozy said.

Sarkozy, the current EU president, led yesterday's negotiations, together with the European commission president, Jos? Manuel Barroso, and the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.

The deal appears to mark a major achievement for Sarkozy. He was criticized widely after Moscow failed to implement his previous, August 12 ceasefire agreement, which called on Russia to pull its troops out.

"All has not been resolved," Sarkozy said. "We are aware of that. But what has been resolved has been considerable." Welcoming the deal, he added that both the EU and Russia had avoided "a cold war that we don't need".

In a press conference yesterday afternoon, after four hours of talks, Medvedev made clear that Russia's withdrawal of forces depended on Georgia's signing a "non-aggression pact" with South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Medvedev said Russia would continue to provide "military assistance" to the breakaway provinces.

However, in a sign of continuing tension with Russia, the US administration said it was cancelling a much-heralded civilian nuclear cooperation deal with Russia, which the US president, George Bush, sent to Congress for approval in May after two years of tough negotiations.

The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said in a statement yesterday: "We make this decision with regret. Unfortunately, given the current environment, the time is not right for this agreement."

Earlier, in Moscow, Medvedev bitterly criticized the US, which he said had encouraged Georgia's "aggression" against South Ossetia, as well as its attack on August 8. The US was also "actively" rearming Georgia, he claimed, adding that Russia would no longer accept a "unipolar model" of world affairs in which the US decided "the rules of the game".

Asked whether the Kremlin planned to invade any more of its neighbors, Medvedev looked irritated. Referring to Georgia, he said: "This is an individual situation. Everything else is just plots ... Some people are trying to look at Russia like the Soviet Union. Russia is different. But Russia needs to be taken into account."

Assuming Russia fully withdraws its forces, talks could resume in October on an EU-Russia cooperation deal, Sarkozy said. EU countries suspended the talks last week in protest at Russia's actions in Georgia.

According to Russia's Kommersant newspaper, Moscow plans to establish diplomatic relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia today.