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Russia pledges full Georgia pullout within a month

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The French president said on Monday that Russia has promised to pull all troops out of Georgia, but not South Ossetia or Abkhazia, within one month.
MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti) - The French president said on Monday that Russia has promised to pull all troops out of Georgia, but not South Ossetia or Abkhazia, within one month.

Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking after talks with his counterpart Dmitry Medvedev near Moscow, also said that under a new agreement Russia has pledged to withdraw from observation posts located between the Georgian towns of Poti and Senaki within a week.

Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states last month, following Tbilisi's attack on South Ossetia and the ensuing Russian military operation in Georgia.

Medvedev said Russia's decision to recognize the regions was irreversible.

"We made this choice ourselves. It is final and irreversible," he said.

However, he said international discussions on the regions' status would go ahead, as stipulated in a peace deal brokered by Sarkozy last month.

"International discussions stipulated in point six of the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan signed on August 12, 2008, will begin on October 15, 2008, in Geneva," he said.

Medvedev said Russia's full withdrawal from Georgia will come not more than 10 days after the European Union deploys at least 200 observers in the 'buffer zone' near South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which under the new agreement is set to happen by October 1.

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