DW-World.de
Deutsche Welle

French President Nicolas Sarkozy says Russia has agreed to withdraw all of its troops from Georgia-proper by the middle of next month. This does not include the Georgian break-away regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Sarkozy was speaking following talks with Russian President Dimitry Medvedev in Moscow. Medvedev told reporters that the withdrawal would begin 10 days after an international presence, including at least 200 European Union observers is deployed to the area. Sarkozy was in Moscow to press Russia to fully implement the terms of a French-brokered ceasefire that ended five days of fighting between Russian and Georgian forces over South Ossetia last month. Sarkozy is now on his way to Tbilisi, where he is to present the deal to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. Sarkozy is being accompanied on the trip by the European Union's foreign policy co-ordinator, Javier Solana, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.