Russia says troops pullout complete

Russia said it had completed its withdrawal of troops from Georgia but the United States rejects this claim.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said: "It is my understanding that they have not completely withdrawn from areas considered undisputed territory and they need to do that."

Russia said it had left peacekeepers manning checkpoints inside Georgia, stoking Western fears that Moscow aims to keep a stranglehold on the ex-Soviet republic's economy and to annex additional territory to breakaway South Ossetia by stealth.

Earlier, Reuters reporters saw convoys of tanks and trucks heading northwards into rebel-held parts of Georgia.

There was no sign of Russian forces moving on into Russia from South Ossetia, underlining Tbilisi's concern that Moscow plans to maintain a large military presence in that province.

Mr Johndroe said that earlier on Friday US President George Bush spoke with French President Nicolas Sarkozy about the latest developments in Georgia and the two leaders agreed that "Russia is not in compliance and that Russia needs to come into compliance now".

Moscow said on Friday it had complied with the French-brokered ceasefire agreement with Georgia, withdrawing military forces that were sent in to reinforce peacekeepers in the South Ossetia breakaway region.

"I saw that announcement, we will continue to monitor the situation but we are not seeing that they are in compliance right now," Johndroe said.

Russia had said it would complete a pullback of troops in Georgia by the end of Friday.

But it would stop short of the extensive withdrawal demanded by the West, saying it would keep a force deep inside Georgia's heartland.

Western states have grown increasingly impatient that Russian troops remain inside Georgia nearly a week after a ceasefire ended a war that broke out when Tbilisi tried to retake its breakaway South Ossetia region.

In some of its toughest comments to date, the White House accused Russia of breaking a promise to leave Georgia.

Washington also underlined its support for aspiring Nato member Georgia by sending the US navy destroyer USS McFall into the Black Sea, the backyard of the Russian navy, to deliver relief supplies to Georgia.

Nato suspended contacts with Russia in protest at the conflict this week, and Russia hit back by freezing some military co-operation with the alliance.

Russian forces were rushed into Georgia on August 8 to repel an attack by Georgian forces on South Ossetia, a province that broke from Tbilisi in the early 1990s and is backed by Moscow.

Russian troops and tanks quickly crushed the Georgian military and pushed on deeper into the ex-Soviet state, stopping about 30 miles from the capital, Tbilisi.

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