Russia announced today it has begun withdrawing its troops from Georgia. But neither Georgia nor wary and openly impatient Western powers saw any evidence of the tanks, trucks and troops leaving.
"The pull-out of peacekeeping forces started today," Col-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn said during a daily official press briefing.
Georgia's Interior Ministry said Russian forces had been blowing up stores of Georgian ammunition and weaponry at a base near the western town of Senaki in their drive to weaken Georgia's 29,000-strong army.
Spokesman Shota Utiashvili said Moscow's troops had also destroyed the runway at the base, about 240 km (150 miles) west of the capital Tbilisi.
"They are destroying everything and then pulling out of these places," he said. "If they call this a pullout, then I do not understand the meaning of the word."
Georgian television showed Russian tanks crashing through a barricade of police cars on a narrow street in the village of Igoeti, half way between Gori and Tbilisi. One car, hitched onto the side of the tank was dragged about 100 metres along the road. The drivers were not inside.
Television showed a policeman and Russian officer locked in a heated dispute about the clearing of the street of cars.
"Don't try to make rules for me," the policeman said. The officer said he had orders to follow and walked off to his car.
Speaking earlier today, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned that any further aggression against Russian citizens would face a "crushing response".
"If anyone thinks that they can kill our citizens and escape unpunished, we will never allow this. If anyone tries this again, we will come out with a crushing response," Mr Medvedev told World War Two veterans in the Russian city of Kursk.
"We have all the necessary resources, political, economic and military. If anyone had any illusions about this, they have to abandon them," he said.
Western powers have placed pressure on Russia to honour commitments given yesterday by Mr Medvedev over a troop withdrawal from Georgian territory.
Russia's withdrawal was agreed under a six-point ceasefire plan brokered by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, acting on behalf of the European Union. The Russians have not set a deadline for its completion but say it depends on stability in Georgia.
Mr Sarkozy yesterday warned Mr Medvedev of "serious consequences" in Moscow's relations with the European Union if Russia does not comply with the ceasefire.
Later, Mr Sarkozy said in an opinion article published on Le Figaronewspaper's website that if Russia did not "rapidly and totally" follow the pullout specified in the cease-fire, he would "have to call an extraordinary meeting of the Council of the European Union to decide what consequences to draw."
Meanwhile, the leader of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia fired his government today and declared a month-long emergency to cope with the aftermath of an armed conflict with the central government.
The Russia-backed region broke away from Georgian rule in a 1991-92 war. South Ossetia is not recognised internationally.
Eduard Kokoity, South Ossetia's self-styled president, has criticised his cabinet for not doing enough to help thousands of refugees by distributing aid, rebuilding smashed infrastructure and supplying shelter to those displaced by the conflict. "I consider the government was not working effectively so I signed the decree," he said.
Mr Kokoity also said he would ask Moscow to station a military base on the territory of South Ossetia.
"We will ask the leadership of the Russian Federation for there to be a Russian military base on the territory
of South Ossetia because Russian citizens live here."
The conflict has rattled the West, which draws oil and gas through pipelines across Georgian territory from the Caspian region; a route favoured because it bypasses Russia.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged President Medvedev to withdraw troops quickly.
"This time I hope he means it," she told NBC's Meet the Press. "The word of the Russian president needs to be upheld by his forces or people are going to begin to wonder if Russia can be trusted."
Germany's Angela Merkel, the latest Western leader to visit Tbilisi, said: "I expect a very fast, very prompt withdrawal of Russian troops out of Georgia," Mr Merkel said in a courtyard at President Mikheil Saakashvili's official residence yesterday. She reiterated a Western promise that Georgia will eventually join Nato, but said she could not say when that would happen.
Reuters