Tbilisi: Russian troops retook a village near the breakaway region of South Ossetia today just hours after withdrawing, Georgia s Interior Ministry said.

Georgian police had already moved into Perevi today to remove Russian-built roadblocks when Russian troops and helicopters unexpectedly returned, said Shota Utiashvili, a ministry spokesman.

"They left, and we went in with about 40 people to remove the roadblocks," he said. "While they were doing this, the Russians deployed a battalion of special forces with helicopters and armor and told the Georgian policemen to get out immediately," he said.

Perevi has been under Russian control since an August war that saw Russian forces drive deep into Georgia. EU monitors had welcomed the initial pullback, saying Perevi was clearly outside South Ossetia.

Russia and Georgia severed diplomatic ties after the war, recalling embassy staff. The Swiss Embassy in Tbilisi has opened a Russian section to represent Moscow in Georgia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks in Moscow on the logistics of the agreement today with his Swiss counterpart Micheline Calmy-Rey.

Russia removed several military posts and checkpoints from Georgian territory outside South Ossetia earlier this fall under a French-brokered cease-fire agreement. Georgian police and EU monitors moved in to patrol the area.

Russia recognised South Ossetia and another separatist region, Abkhazia, as independent nations after the August war and has stationed thousands of troops in the regions - including a swath of South Ossetia that was controlled by Georgia before the conflict.
Source : PTI