Trailing clouds of dust and exhaust fumes as they retreated, scores of tanks and armoured personnel carriers finally began to end Russia’s occupation of Georgia yesterday.

The Times witnessed the withdrawal from the Russian checkpoint at Igoeti, 25 miles from the capital Tbilisi, as two dozen military vehicles loaded with troops descended from the surrounding hills where they had been carefully camouflaged for up to a week.

Georgian police looked on as the Russians pulled back along the highway, then advanced slowly in their wake towards the town of Gori. Four coach-loads of police followed behind, ready to resume control after eight days of Russian occupation.

Some 20 Russian military vehicles had earlier left Gori and travelled north towards the breakaway region of South Ossetia. The town was eerily quiet as it waited for the return of Georgian authorities.

In an operation that was both rapid and sudden, taking little more than two hours, a total of 50 Russian tanks and troop carriers left two other checkpoints in convoy on the main east-west highway in the direction of Gori and South Ossetia.

But a detachment of soldiers badged as “peacekeepers” remained on the highway outside the village of Natsreti, about 15 kilometres south of Gori, raising fresh questions about the extent of the “security zone” that Russia says it will establish inside Georgia.

There was similar movement in western Georgia, where a military column of more than 80 vehicles carrying troops pulled out of the town of Senaki and headed north towards Georgia’s other breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Last night the Russian Government announced that it had pulled out all the forces sent into Georgia this month and that the remaining soldiers had “taken up their duties”. The deputy chief of general staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, had earlier showed reporters in Moscow a map covering the “zone of responsibility” that Russia plans to establish inside Georgia after the military withdrawal.

It included control over the highway leading from Tbilisi to the strategic port of Poti, which handles much of Georgia’s imports and exports. The map showed military posts outside Poti, with troops permitted to patrol between the port and Senaki.

Parts of the highway around Gori would also be controlled by Russian forces, giving the Kremlin a stranglehold on Georgia’s economy. Colonel-general Novogitsyn told reporters that “if needed we reserve the right to boost these forces with units from the Russian peacekeepers’ contingent”.

Russia says that it will deploy its “peacekeepers” in a buffer zone on Georgian soil around the border with South Ossetia. Moscow also intends to maintain forces inside both Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Georgia’s President, Mikhail Saakashvili, has rejected Russia’s statement, saying: “We will never live with any buffer zones. We’ll never allow anything like this.”

Russia insists that it is acting within the terms of the ceasefire brokered by France’s President Sarkozy, which included a provision for a temporary buffer zone on Georgian territory up to 10km beyond South Ossetia.

President Bush telephoned Mr Saakashvili on Thursday to say that the US was seeking an end to the Russian “siege” of Georgia. Washington sent a clear signal of its support by announcing that three navy ships, including the destroyer McFall, were on their way into the Black Sea to deliver aid.

Meanwhile, Nato announced that it had begun “routine exercises” in the Black Sea involving US, German, Spanish and Polish ships. It said that the exercises, which will last until September 10, had been planned before the Georgian crisis erupted.

The next stage in the crisis is likely to play out on Monday, when Russia’s parliament meets in emergency session to consider appeals to recognise the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Mr Medvedev has stated that he is ready to “make the decision which unambiguously supports the will of these two Caucasus peoples”.

But recognition of their independence would plunge Russia’s relations with the West to a new low. The US, the EU and Nato have repeatedly demanded respect for Georgia’s existing borders, including South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Times Recommends

• Thousands of Tamils dying in 'welfare camp'
• Jackson 'rebuilt his nose before he died'
• Renewed Iran protests crushed by militia