Russia Claims Readiness to Withdraw Troops from Georgia

Russia, responding to U.S. criticism, said on Thursday Moscow was doing its best to pull troops and weapons out of Georgia as the political problems in the country mount, Reuters reports.

But Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov bristled at Western nations for holding up ratification of a treaty limiting conventional forces in Europe because of the Russian military presence.

”We will withdraw, we will continue our withdrawal,” he told reporters after meeting NATO foreign ministers. ”It’s simply a question that we can’t have a strict timetable for any of this.”

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell issued a thinly veiled warning to Russia this week not to back Georgia’s breakaway regions amid instability in the country after last month’s bloodless revolution.

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