Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, was heading for Georgia today to spearhead a dual diplomatic and humanitarian effort designed to display American support for the country in its conflict with Russia.

However, there was some confusion as to whether Russian forces would, as promised, move out of Gori, the battered strategic city abandoned by the Georgians earlier this week in the face of military onslaught.

Russian military officials said today that they would start to return control of Gori to Georgia soon, as agreed in a French-brokered ceasefire. The city is located near the rebel region of South Ossetia, over which the Georgians tried to regain control last week, and controls the main route between eastern and western Georgia.

“For another two days Russian troops will stay in the region to ... hand over control functions to Georgian law-enforcement bodies, after which they will leave,” Major-General Vyacheslav Borisov told reporters in Moscow.

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A Georgian official complained, however, that Russia was already backtracking on the ceasefire deal. “All night they said they would leave and now they have changed their mind. Georgian forces have stopped (going to Gori) to avoid clashes with the Russians,” Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told the AFP news agency. The Foreign Ministry also accused Russia of deploying extra troops in Gori and stepping up its presence in the port of Poti.

An AFP reporter on the road about 30km from Gori saw up to 20 Georgian armoured personnel carriers go through a police checkpoint towards the town before pulling up by the side of the road a little further on.

In his first major statement on the crisis, President Bush demanded yesterday that Russia respect the ceasefire accord brokered by President Sarkozy of France, under which both sides must retire to their positions before fighting erupted last Thursday night.

He also announced large-scale humanitarian assistance to be led by the US military - two US military cargo planes were reported to have landed in Tbilisi this morning - and said that he was sending Dr Rice to Georgia to help secure peace.

The Secretary of State is expected in Georgia tonight after a brief stop in Paris to discuss the crisis with President Sarkozy. Mr Bush says that he fully backs the European Union's mediation efforts.

“The United States of America stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia, insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected,” Mr Bush said in a statement at the White House.

He scolded Moscow for its attacks on Georgia, and warned it had put Russia’s post-Cold War relations with the West “at risk". “To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe, and other nations, and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis,” he declared.

In Gori, Major-General Borisov denied Georgian claims that there had been looting and widespread destruction. “There’s been some talk that the city is destroyed, that there is looting,” he said, “Everything is normal. There is even electricity.”

However, Russia’s state Interfax news agency reported that two looters had been executed by firing squad in South Ossetia itself.

“In the past few there were some facts of looting on the territory of the republic,” Boris Chochiyev, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russia-backed separatist region, told the agency.

“Yesterday our law-enforcement bodies shot dead two looters caught red handed. Today we will handle the issue even tougher.”

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