Asia sides with West, not Russia, over Georgia

Russia still on the ground in Georgia
But overall, the summit highlighted Russia's isolation.

Despite continuing Western protests and a visit by U.S. warships to Georgia's Black Sea coast, Russian troops remain at checkpoints inside areas controlled by Georgia prior to the recent conflict.

While a cease-fire agreement calls for both sides to withdraw to their previous positions, the Kremlin says the agreement allows Russian forces to occupy "security zones" outside the rebel regions.

In a rare gesture of conciliation, Russian forces turned over 12 Georgian soldiers on the border of Abkhazia. The Georgians were seized Aug. 18 and paraded — blindfolded and hands tied behind their backs — on top of Russian armored vehicles.

The soldiers appeared unharmed Thursday, and some were smiling.

But there was also fresh conflict in the region. South Ossetia claimed to have shot down an unmanned Georgian spy plane that was scouting the skies over the republic. Georgia denied the report.

Russia responded to Georgia's military offensive on South Ossetia by sending hundreds of tanks rolling into the rebel region, pushing Georgian troops out of South Ossetia's capital, Tskhinvali, before driving deep into Georgia proper.

The West accuses Russia of excessive force in response to the Georgian offensive, of failing to meet its troop withdrawal commitments under an EU-brokered cease-fire and of violating international law in recognizing the two separatist regions.

In Vienna, a senior Georgian official said Russian forces and their armed allies have driven all Georgians out of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and were now ethnically cleansing villages in other areas of Georgia.

"As of now, we can say with confidence that in both regions — Abkhazia and Ossetia — ethnic cleansing is fully completed," Georgia Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili told reporters at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Russia denied the charge.

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