Russian general: 'We are not pulling out' of Georgia

It's as if the whole world has been looking at Russia's words and actions and saying, "No, things have changed, the Cold War is over." Welcome to the new Cold War.
Los Angeles Times

A ranking Russian military official today said Moscow plans to establish 18 long-term checkpoints inside Georgian territory, including at least eight within undisputed Georgian territory outside the pro-Russian enclave of South Ossetia.
The checkpoints will be staffed by hundreds of Russian troops, with those in Georgia proper needing supplies that would be ferried to them from South Ossetia.
If implemented, the plan would effectively put under Russian control the border between Georgia and its South Ossetia region, which is seeking independence with Moscow's backing, as well as a small chunk of Georgia proper.
"This is the essence of it," Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the army general staff, told reporters at a briefing. He showed maps detailing the proposed Russian positions, one just outside the key city of Gori.
"The president ordered us to stop where we were," he said. "We are not pulling out and pulling back troops behind this administrative border into the territory of South Ossetia."
The plans appear to violate the terms of a French-endorsed cease-fire deal signed late last week by the presidents of Georgia and Russia. It called for both countries' troops and allied armed groups to move back to their positions before hostilities between the two countries' troops led to a Russian military incursion early this month into the staunchly pro-U.S. Caucasus Mountain nation.
Russian officials insist they may keep troops along the South Ossetian-Georgian border as well as within Georgia proper as part of a peacekeeping mission begun in the 1990s. Russians say their peacekeeping mandate gives them access to a "security zone" along the border.
Nogovitsyn also said at least 64 Russian soldiers were killed and 323 injured in the fighting. Russians were outraged by what they called an unprovoked surprise attack by Georgians on Russian peacekeepers based in the breakaway region and on South Ossetia civilians. Georgians have accused Moscow of provoking the fight as a pretext for sending troops into Georgian territory.
Officials in Georgia, the U.S. and Europe have demanded Russia pull its troops back to positions held before the current fighting broke out Aug. 7.
President Bush reiterated that message today during a speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention in Orlando, Fla., calling for Russian troops to pull back and defending Georgia's claim to South Ossetia and another breakaway region.
Rice and other officials from NATO nations who met Tuesday in Brussels "agreed that Russia must honor its commitment to withdraw its troops from Georgia and to return to the status quo before the hostilities began on August the 6th," he said, adding: "South Ossetia and Abkhazia are part of Georgia, and the United States will work with our allies to ensure Georgia's independence and territorial integrity."
In Moscow, Nogovitsyn said "time will tell" when Russians would pull troops out of areas they control in Georgia proper, including the key city of Gori, which lies along a crucial juncture of the country's main east-west highway. He called the proposed new checkpoints "observation posts."