Here is the Russia-Georgia ceasefire plan as agreed with President Sarkozy, including the complications that have clouded its implementation.

The two sides agreed to:

1. The non-use of force to resolve the conflict

2. An immediate halt to all military action

3. Free access to humanitarian aid

4. Georgian troops will return to their positions of August 8, before the conflict opened

Complication: These include troops with the international peacekeeping force. Russia said today that it would no longer accept a Georgian role in this force since the country’s troops had turned “traitor”.

5. Russian troops return to the lines they held before the start of the military operation. Before an international solution is worked out Russian peacekeepers are to take up an additional security role

Russia appears to be using this clause to extend its operations in Georgia. Mr Sarkozy said that these security measures would be implemented only in areas in the immediate vicinity of South Ossetia. “They are in no way additional security measures regarding all of Georgia’s territory,” he said.

6. The start of an international discussion over the future status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia

This paragraph was changed after Georgia objected to the original French-Russian phrasing. This said that the “future status” of the two separatist regions would be reviewed. Mr Sarkozy said that both sides agreed on respecting the sovereignty of Georgia, but President Medvedev made clear that Russia considered that the future of the regions was now officially on the table. He compared the regions to Kosovo, whose independence from Serbia has been recognised by most of the West.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, said: “It is not possible to resolve these issues outside the context of the status” of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

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