Russia and Georgia exchanged prisoners of war today, a move that could bring about a substantial reduction in tensions and one which Georgia hopes will expedite a Russian troop withdrawal from its territory.

Yet, as Nato foreign ministers prepared to hold an emergency meeting in Brussels over a unified response to Russia’s invasion of its tiny neighbour, there still was no sign of the Russian troop pullout from Georgia that was supposed to have begun yesterday.

The prisoner exchange began as two Russian military helicopters landed in the village of Igoeti, the closest that Russian forces have advanced to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Soldiers and men in unmarked clothing got off and two people in stretchers were unloaded and taken to Georgian officials.

Georgian ambulances later brought two other people to the scene and took them to the Russian helicopters. One was on a stretcher.

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Alexander Lomaia, head of the Georgian Security Council, told reporters in Igoeti that 15 Georgians and five Russians were exchanged. “It went smoothly,” he said. The operation was also witnessed by Russian Major-General Vyacheslav Borisov, who commands troops in the area.

Mr Lomaia said the exchange removed any pretext for Russians to keep holding positions in Igoeti, 50km (30 miles) west of Tbilisi, or anywhere else on Georgia’s only significant east-west highway.

Russia announced yesterday that it had begun to pull back forces after a cease-fire agreement, but as of this morning there was no sign of significant movement in Igoeti or in the nearby strategically key city of Gori, which are among the deepest Russian military penetrations into Georgian territory.

Tony Halpin, a Times correspondent, said that the only difference was that the three checkpoints beyond Igoeti and Gori were now manned not by regular Russian units but by Russian "peacekeepers".

"It's not clear whether they've simply rebadged them," he said from Gori. "The Russians can say we're withdrawing our forces but there are still Russians were they are not supposed to be."

Georgia tried to retake its separatist province of South Ossetia on August 7, launching a heavy artillery barrage. Russian forces immediately came to the aid of their separatist allies, driving Georgian forces out of South Ossetia and continuing their military advance until they had a military stranglehold on their tiny neighbour.

With Western leaders anxiously watching for a withdrawal and puzzling over how to punish Moscow for what they called a “disproportionate" reaction, President Medvedev defended Russia’s actions. “Anyone who tries anything like that will face a crushing response,” he said yesterday, in a meeting with Second World War veterans in Kursk.

Later, Mr Medvedev handed out military medals to Russian soldiers involved in the fighting in the short but intense war, which has stroked tensions between the West and a resurgent Russia.

The Russians appeared determined to interpret the ceasefire, and the promised withdrawal, as they see fit. One Russian official indicated today that no withdrawal from Georgia proper is imminent.

“Rear units, as well as second and third-echelon units are being pulled back first. The vanguard units will be pulled back at the final stage,” Colonel Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russia’s land forces, told the Interfax news agency.

The deputy chief of the Russian general staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, had said the withdrawal began yesterday and that Russian forcing were leaving Gori.

Russian troops restricted access yesterday to Gori, where most shops were shut and people mobbed a gate where relief supplies such as bread were being handed out. Others milled around the central square, which features a statue of the city's most famous native, the former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

“The city is a cold place now. People are fearful,” said Nona Khizanishvili, 44, who fled Gori a week ago for an outlying village and returned yesterday trying to reach her son in Tbilisi.

In Brussels, Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, is expected to push Nato allies to curtail high level meetings and military cooperation with Russia unless Moscow sticks to its ceasefire pledge.

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