Russia and Georgia exchange prisoners

Russian soldiers held blindfolded Georgian servicemen at gunpoint on top of military vehicles today and commandeered US Humvees in the key Black Sea port of Poti.

Elsewhere, Russia exchanged POWs with Georgia and pulled back some troops from the strategic city of Gori.

It was a day of deeply mixed messages that left the small, war-battered country full of anxiety about whether Russia was aiming for a long-term military presence in Georgia or was just trying to inflict the maximum damage before adhering to a troop withdrawal that Russia promised under a EU-brokered cease-fire.

At an emergency meeting in Brussels, Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, and her 25 Nato counterparts demanded that Russia immediately withdraw its troops from Georgia, a US ally that wants to join the alliance. The ministers announced that Nato “cannot continue with business as usual" with Russia as long as its troops remain in Georgia.

But it was in Poti - Georgia’s key oil port city - where Russia flexed its military muscle most visibly.

Russian forces blocked access to the city’s naval and commercial ports this morning and towed the missile boat Dioskuria, seen as the flagship of the Georgian navy, out of sight of observers. A loud explosion was heard minutes later.

Several hours later, an Associated Press photographer saw Russian trucks and armored personnel carriers leaving the port with about 20 blindfolded and handcuffed men riding on them. A port spokesman said that the men were Georgian soldiers.

The Russians also took with them four Humvees that were at the port awaiting shipment back to the United States, equipment that had been used in earlier US-Georgian military exercises.

The deputy head of Russia’s general staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, said in Moscow that 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 a necessary crackdown on soldiers who were “out of any kind of control ... acting without command”.

An AP television crew has seen Russian troops in and around Poti for days, with local port officials saying the Russians had destroyed radar, boats and other Coast Guard equipment there. Russian troops have also been busy at the nearby Georgian military base in Senaki.

Convoys of Russian trucks and armored vehicles moved in and out of the base all day yesterday. Late in the afternoon, three separate blasts appeared to destroy the base’s runway and shook the leaves off trees up to a mile away.

Russian troops and tanks have controlled a wide swath of Georgia for days, including the country’s main east-west highway where Gori sits. The Russian presence threatens President Saakashvili’s efforts to keep the country from losing territory to Russia after a short but intense war over the separatist areas of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

In central Georgia today, a small column of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles left Gori. Colonel Igor Konashenkov, a Russian military spokesman, said that the headed for South Ossetia and, ultimately, back to Russia.

He gave no timetable for when the unit would reach Russia but it appeared to be the first sign of a Russian pullback of troops from Georgia.

The column, which also apparently included a mobile rocket-launcher, passed the village of Ruisi, outside Gori on the road to South Ossetia, this afternoon.

Earlier today Russia and Georgia also exchanged 20 prisoners of war Tuesday in an effort to reduce tensions. Two Russian military helicopters landed in the village of Igoeti, the closest that Russian forces have advanced to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.

Georgian Security Council head Alexander Lomaia told reporters in Igoeti that 15 Georgians and five Russians were exchanged. “It went smoothly,” he said.

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’ only significant east-west highway.

Times Recommends

• Should Knox’s trial even have reached the courtroom?
• 'Was it real?' The US bailout nightmare
• Iranian opposition plays the long game