Georgia signs ceasefire, US blasts Russia

TBILISI-Georgia on Friday signed a ceasefire agreement seeking to end its conflict with Russia, as the United States lashed out at Moscow for "bullying" and failing to withdraw its troops from the country.Georgia's pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili announced he had signed the EU-brokered ceasefire during a visit to Tbilisi by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice."With the signing of this accord, all Russian troops, and any paramilitary and irregular troops that entered with them, must leave immediately," Rice said in Tbilisi. Despite the accord, thrashed out by French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier this week, Russian armoured vehicles and tanks remained deep inside Georgian territory, some even pressing further towards the capital Tbilisi.Rice, whose visit to Tbilisi was seen as a show of support for Saakashvili's government, criticised the Russians for not honouring their promises to halt military operations in Georgia. "The verbal assurance that President (Dmitry) Medvedev gave that Russian military operations had stopped... clearly was not honoured," Rice said.Scores of Russian armoured vehicles were concentrated at a base outside Gori, a strategically key town half-way between Tbilisi and the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia at the centre of the conflict.An AFP reporter late Friday saw a convoy of 10 Russian armoured personnel carriers move from Gori before stopping in a position just 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Tbilisi.US President George W. Bush meanwhile complained of Moscow's "bullying" and called on Russia to honour its pledge to withdraw its troops."Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century," he said, adding that Russia had damaged its credibility with the West by its offensive against Georgia."Moscow must honour its commitment to withdraw its invading forces from all Georgian territory," Bush said outside the Oval Office...
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