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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Russia 'starts Georgia pull-out' | Russia 'starts Georgia pull-out' |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Russia says its troops have started pulling back from a "buffer zone" around Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia. | |
| A BBC correspondent in the area said he saw Russian forces dismantling and leaving one checkpoint they had set up. | |
| Moscow must pull its troops from areas around South Ossetia and Abkhazia - another breakaway region in Georgia - by Friday under a ceasefire deal. | Moscow must pull its troops from areas around South Ossetia and Abkhazia - another breakaway region in Georgia - by Friday under a ceasefire deal. |
| Russia has kept troops there since ousting Georgian forces in August. | Russia has kept troops there since ousting Georgian forces in August. |
| See a map of the region | |
| The Russian withdrawal is being monitored by some 200 European Union observers. | |
| The pull-back was agreed in a ceasefire deal brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in early August. | |
| But Moscow plans to keep nearly 8,000 troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which it has recognised as independent states. | |
| Western leaders have condemned both the buffer zones and Russia's recognition of the two regions. | |
| The EU wants its observers to have access to the breakaway regions, but Russia has repeatedly refused to guarantee that. | |
| The fighting in the region began on 7 August when Georgia tried to retake South Ossetia by force after a series of lower-level clashes. | |
| Russia launched a counter-attack and the Georgian troops were ejected from both South Ossetia and Abkhazia days later. | |
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