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POTI, GEORGIA–Russia took the first steps toward a troop pullback from Georgia yesterday but at the same time paraded blindfolded and bound Georgian prisoners on armoured vehicles and seized four U.S. Humvees.
The mixed signals came as NATO allies met in emergency session in Belgium and demanded Russia fulfill its promise to withdraw its forces from the former Soviet republic.
A small Russian column including three tanks, three trucks, five armoured personnel carriers and a rocket-launcher left Gori, the central city that straddles a vital east-west highway.
A Russian officer said they were headed for South Ossetia, the disputed province at the heart of the conflict, and then home to Russia.
The move toward withdrawal came on the same day as a powerful image of Russia's grip over Georgia: Russian trucks and armoured vehicles carrying about 20 Georgian men, blindfolded, handcuffed and held at gunpoint.
They were taken from the western city of Poti to the nearby, Russian-controlled military base in Senaki, according to Poti's mayor, who said he had been told they would be released today.
Mayor Vano Taginadze said the Georgian military and police troops had been taken captive because the Georgians refused to let Russian armoured vehicles into the port of Poti, along Georgia's Black Sea coast.
A Georgian defence spokesperson said eight servicemen guarding the port were among those held.
A Russian official defended the move, saying the soldiers were out of control and had no commander.
The two countries did exchange 20 prisoners of war – 15 Georgians and five Russians, according to the head of Georgia's Security Council – in an effort to reduce tensions.
Also in Poti, Russian soldiers commandeered four Humvees that had been used in U.S.-Georgian military exercises and were destined to be shipped back to the United States.
The Pentagon said it was looking into the incident. Georgian deputy defence minister Batu Kutelia said Russian forces seized the vehicles.
Russian forces in Poti also blocked access to the city's naval and commercial ports yesterday morning and towed the missile boat Dioskuria, one of the Georgian navy's most sophisticated vessels, out of sight of observers. A loud blast was heard minutes later, and a Georgian interior ministry spokesperson said the Russians had blown up the boat.
The acts of force demonstrated anew that Russia, days after agreeing to a ceasefire with Georgia, still controlled much of the country, and that the state of the Georgian military was far from stable.
Russia also turned its sights on Ukraine yesterday, warning it not to try to restrict the Kremlin's use of a Crimean naval base it leases.
Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's pro-Western president, has sided with Georgia and said last week the movement of vessels at Sevastopol port were subject to Ukrainian approval. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov yesterday disagreed.
The lease agreement says "nothing about us needing to explain to someone why, where to and for how long the Black Sea Fleet ships are leaving their walls," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russia's state-controlled ITAR-Tass news agency.
