Aug 19 09:41 AM US/Eastern
By DMITRY LOVETSKY and CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
Associated Press Writers
RUISI, Georgia (AP) - Russian soldiers took 20 Georgian troops prisoner at a key port in western Georgia on Tuesday and commandeered American Humvees awaiting shipment back to the United States after taking part in earlier U.S.-Georgian military exercises.
The move came as a small column of Russian tanks and armored vehicles left the strategic Georgian city of Gori in the first sign of a Russian pullback of troops from Georgia after a cease-fire intended to end fighting that reignited Cold War tensions. The two countries on Tuesday also exchanged prisoners captured during their brief war.
However, Russian soldiers took Georgian servicemen prisoner at a key port and commandeered U.S. Humvees. An Associated Press photographer saw Russian trucks and armored personnel carriers leaving the port with about 20 blindfolded and handcuffed men riding on them.
Port spokesman Eduard Mashevoriani said the men were Georgian soldiers.
The deputy head of Russia's general staff, Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, said Russian forces plan to remain in Poti until a local administration is formed, but did not give further details. He also justified previous seizures of Georgian soldiers as necessary to crack down on soldiers who were "out of any kind of control ... acting without command."
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D92LCT0G3&show_article=1&catnum=0
