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Russia Completes ‘Most of Withdrawal’ – EU Monitors

Russian troops withdrew from “a great number of checkpoints” in the areas adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia on October 8, the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM) has confirmed.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday that Russian forces would leave the areas by midnight, October 8.

Hansjörg Haber, the EUMM head,  said in Zugdidi on October 8 that the process of withdrawal was “a very positive development.”

“I have been at the Inguri bridge to verify the withdrawal with my own eyes. There are reports from our monitors that checkpoints have been lifted throughout the adjacent areas,” he said.

EUMM said in a statement released late in the afternoon that “Russia seems to have completed most of the withdrawal.”

“However, EUMM observers are still on the ground to verify. With the Russian withdrawal, responsibility for the enforcement of law and order in the adjacent areas falls to the Georgian authorities,” it said.

Georgian police are moving into areas vacated by Russian troops. They are accompanied by Interior Ministry special purpose units, Vano Merabishvili, the Georgian interior minister, told journalist on October 8.

He said internally displaced persons would be able to return as soon as Georgian police had moved in.

Haber said on October 8 that the EUMM would also monitor the movement of Georgian law enforcement agencies, “which will ensure security on the ground and allow people to resume normal everyday life.”

He stressed that the Russian withdrawal constituted only the first phase in the EUMM’s work in Georgia.

“Our work will now be centered around confidence building on the two sides of the administrative boundary,” the German diplomat added.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)

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