GOETI, Georgia — Russian forces built ramparts of earth around tanks and posted sentries on a hill in central Georgia on Saturday, seemingly digging in amid Western pressure for Moscow to withdraw its forces under a cease-fire deal signed by Russia's president.
U.S. President George W. Bush sternly warned Russia that it cannot lay claim to two separatist regions in U.S.-backed Georgia even though their sympathies lie with Moscow. "There is no room for debate on this matter," Bush told reporters at his Texas ranch.
The tense peace pact in Georgia, a U.S. ally that has emerged as a proxy for conflict between an emboldened Russia and the West, calls for both Russian and Georgian forces to pull back to positions they held before fighting erupted Aug. 7.
But freshly dug positions of Russian armor in the town of Igoeti, about 30 miles west of Tbilisi, showed that Russia was observing the truce at the pace and scope of its choosing.
Earlier, Russian forces had dug shallow foxholes in the middle of Igoeti and parked tanks, one flying a Russian flag, along the road. In the afternoon, they withdrew from those positions to the town's western outskirts. There, they set up defensive positions with tank cannons pointed back toward Georgian-held territory, where police and soldiers milled about, awaiting the next move of their stronger adversary.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,405041,00.html
