Rice Expects Russian Troops to Withdraw From Georgia

American Forces Press Service ^ | John J. Kruzel

[SandRat]

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2008 – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today she expects Russia, which reportedly signed a cease-fire deal with Georgia, will begin to withdraw its forces “expeditiously” from the former Soviet republic.

Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev today signed a French-brokered peace deal, a day after Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili endorsed the agreement, which includes a drawdown of troops to levels that existed before Russia invaded its neighbor last week, according to news reports.

“Now that President Medvedev has reportedly signed the cease-fire agreement, I assume that Russian forces are going to begin to withdraw expeditiously,” Rice told reporters today in Crawford, Texas, where she met with President Bush.

The agreement includes a limited mandate for Russian peacekeepers to maintain the same level of security presence it had in the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia prior to the outbreak of hostilities. Sanctioned Russian peacekeepers in Georgia will be allowed to have limited patrols in a prescribed area within the zone of conflict. But they are barred from Georgian urban areas and highways, Rice said.

Bush today characterized the agreement as “an important development.”

“President Medvedev of Russia has now signed on to the terms of this agreement. And that's an important development; it's a hopeful step,” he told reporters this morning in Crawford.

Rice soon will travel to Brussels, Belgium, where she will meet with the foreign ministers of America’s NATO allies and European Union officials to “continue to rally the free world in the defense of a free Georgia,” the president said.

Fighting that began in South Ossetia last week broadened to include Russian attacks on other parts of the country, including Abkhazia, another heavily separatist region. Russia contends that the heavily pro-Moscow breakaway regions may not belong within Georgia’s borders in the future, a stance that Bush characterized as “a major issue.”

Echoing remarks by the president, Rice emphasized that Georgia’s territorial integrity must be respected. “These regions … are within the internationally recognized boundaries of Georgia,” she said. “And there will have to be a negotiated solution on that basis.”

The situation already was tense when Russian tanks and troops on Aug. 8 crossed the border into South Ossetia, where they were aided by regional separatists. Clashes escalated a day later in and around Tskhinvali, South Ossetia’s capital, as Russian aircraft were reported to have bombed that city and mounted attacks later in Abkhazia and other Georgian areas, fueling fears that Moscow would attempt to depose the democratically elected government in Tblisi.

“We do want to send a strong message of support for Georgia,” Rice said. “Georgia is going to emerge from this, and … its infrastructure will be rebuilt.”

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Transcript

[SkyDancer]

In five years starting from ....10 ... 9 ... 8...

[MarMema]

yes we keep reading this, and then the tanks are still there.

[Bobalu]

[BenLurkin]

She might be saying that is our expectation but I can’t believe she really expects it.

They won’t leave.

Unless they all start coming down with some type of mystery illness.

[exit82]

And I expect to win the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes.

[coolbreeze]

AND WHEAT AND CORN REPORT
that the the Russians will leave when they’re done looting the place.

[eastforker]

Of course , she has to say it and do so publicly. I think she also knows it probably ain’t gonna happen but it is not her job to say so.Russia will not be happy till they dispose of the current leadership in Georgia and reestablish themselvesn the region. What can the US do in such a remote area? We could liberate Georgia next week but nobody would want to live there afterwords and we would probably be at war. We can talk strong and ask for resolutions and stuff, Putin would smile about that, or, we could destroy Irans nuclear facilities next week and threaten the rest of Irans infrastructure if Russia doesn’t pull out of Georgia or................we could just press the button and get it overwith and hope our starwars program works.

[Navy Patriot]

As soon as they pick up or destroy all those shiny new weapons the Georgians got from us and Israel, and sew up enough “UN PEACEKEEPER” armbands for the heavily armed Russians who will remain, yeah, they’ll be gone.

[BenLurkin]

..."we could just press the button and get it over with..."

Hopefully not yet -- I hope we still have a few other cards to play.

[yldstrk]

yeah right that’s the ticket

[InterceptPoint]

This is not Condi's finest hour. Predicting that Putin will honor the cease fire simply borders on the foolish. It is past time for Bush to push the State Department loonies away from his strategy table and listen to the people who really understand Putin.

Unless Bush is willing to take action that would assist Georgia militarily then I see nothing to convince the Russians to leave. They have lost the PR battle so they have nothing to lose by staying and "finishing the job".

(The PR bit may be short-sighted on my part since the Dems have not completed their strategy for blaming this whole mess on Bush and of course it is only a matter of time before that idea enters the MSM gospel.)

IMHO Bush needs to add to the shipments to Georgia a continuous flow of C-17s full of stingers and anti-tank missiles. Now that would get the Russians attention.

[Current Occupant]

Rice told reporters today in Crawford, Texas, where she met with President Bush.

WTH, she must have gone to Tblisi, said we're behind you all, well, gotta go see ya.

[Mister Da]

“Now that President Medvedev has reportedly signed the cease-fire agreement, I assume that Russian forces are going to begin to withdraw expeditiously,” Rice told reporters ...

Miss Manners forgets that when you ASSUME something, you make an ASS out of U and ME! Wouldn't the word EXPECT have been more appropriate from the SOS of the USA?

Wimpy, Wimpy, Wimpy!!!

[Tzimisce]

....of course, she was taken by surprise when they invaded....

[shalom aleichem]

I would really like to know what the H happened to Condi. The big knock on her since the Iron Curtain fell was ALL she knows anything about is Soviet Union and the Russians so she/was is a dinosaur. But now that the Russians are back at their mischief, she seems to be so totally out of touch. A week ago she said we would be “fine” if Boma won. I guess Georgia will be “fine” if the Russians become their new Daddy.

And how in H did she and CIA allow this to pop up all of a sudden, with no warning. We should have flown in US tanks to circle Tbilisi, as we did the Kabul airport and stood off the Ruskies who were trying to take it.

[tessalu]

Rice has proven to be about a worthless as “teats on a boar hog”.