By MATT SIEGEL, Associated Press Writer
TBILISI, Georgia – Russian troops retook a village near the breakaway region of South Ossetia Saturday just hours after withdrawing, Georgia's Interior Ministry and European Union peace observers said.
The move drew criticism from Georgia, the EU and U.S. Senator John Kerry, who was on a half-day visit to Tbilisi.
Georgian police had already moved into Perevi on Saturday to remove Russian-built roadblocks when Russian troops and helicopters unexpectedly returned, said Shota Utiashvili, an Interior Ministry spokesman.
"They left, and we went in with about 40 people to remove the roadblocks," he said. "While they were doing this, the Russians deployed a battalion of special forces with helicopters and armor and told the Georgian policemen to get out immediately," he said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry refused immediate comment and South Ossetian officials could not be immediately reached.
The European monitoring mission, which is observing an EU-brokered cease-fire, quickly issued a statement calling on Russia to pull back once more.
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Kerry, meanwhile — in Tbilisi to meet with the government, the opposition and President Mikhail Saakashvili — addressed reporters at the airport before leaving.
"My judgment is that Georgia as a sovereign country needs to be upheld and respected," Kerry said. "And the agreement that the Russians have signed up to needs to be upheld."
linkBy Helena Bedwell and Denis Maternovsky
Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Russia sent in more than 500 troops to the disputed Georgian village of Perevi near the separatist region of South Ossetia, forcing the local police out, Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said.
Russian military deployed more troops in the village after ceding it to the Georgian police yesterday in a “premeditated provocative behavior,” which was witnessed by observers from the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the ministry said in an e-mailed statement today.
“The agreements which Russians have signed for need to be upheld, I think the international community needs to focus more on human rights issues, on the issues of police officers who are being shot from across the lines, people who have been displaced against the law,” U.S. Senator John Kerry told reporters today in the capital Tbilisi after meeting with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Russia routed Georgia’s army in a five-day August war over South Ossetia, and later recognized the region’s independence and that of another breakaway, Abkhazia, a move condemned by the U.S. and many European countries.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who brokered the cease- fire that ended the conflict, called on Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in November to pull Russian troops out of Perevi and the Akhalgori valley near South Ossetia. Medvedev countered that the cease-fire had been “fully implemented” by Russia.
Senator Kerry, who is next Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is on a trip that includes the
Poznan climate talks, which concluded yesterday,
India,
Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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