TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Georgia's Interior Ministry says Russian troops have begun pulling out of Gori, the strategically key city where their presence raised fears that Russia would challenge a cease-fire agreement.
Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said Thursday that Russian troops have also left Poti, a Black Sea port city with an oil terminal that is a key piece of Georgia's fragile economic health.
Russian troops on Wednesday entered Gori, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of South Ossetia, the separatist Georgian region where Russian and Georgian forces fought a brutal 5-day battle.
The entry into Gori came hours after both sides signed a cease-fire agreement that called for their forces to be pulled back to the positions they held before the fighting started a week ago. The truce allows Russian forces to take unspecified "security measures," raising the possibility they could try to stay in Georgia proper under the justification of protecting their troops in South Ossetia.
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