Michael Ware

Journalist

TSR: "The question remains just how far those troops are withdrawing, how many shall remain, in what role, and what will be their numbers?"


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An update on the Russian troop withdrawal, recorded earlier this morning.



WOLF BLITZER: More news from overseas. Russian troops on the move once again in the Republic of Georgia. This time they're supposedly pulling back. But it's not clear where they'll stop or how many will be left behind.

CNN's Michael Ware is on the -- in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi -- Michael.

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, despite a complicated picture, the general trend here in Georgia, to quote the Georgian national security adviser, is that on the front lines we are seeing a Russian pullback. However, the question remains just how far those troops are withdrawing, how many shall remain, in what role and what will be their numbers?

We know that some checkpoints are already being dismantled. However, others are not. Some Russian forces are on the move in armored columns accompanied by vehicles, troops leaving. Yet in some positions, they are remaining firm.

Indeed, we have the Georgian Ministry of Interior telling us that in some positions, the Russian soldiers are merely taking off their uniforms and donning those of peacekeepers or attaching white arm bands or symbols to designate themselves as peacekeepers.

Now, under the peace accord as it stands, as written, the wording is so broad that you can drive a Russian armored column through it. And that is, indeed, what we're seeing Moscow doing.

Whilst their troops shall be pulling back into the disputed pro-Russian enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russian forces are insisting on the right to maintain a security or buffer zone to protect those peacekeepers.

The question remains how far into undisputed Georgia territory will those zones extend. Some are saying seven kilometers, some are saying 10, some suspect perhaps even more.

And there's nothing to say how many peacekeepers or forces the Russians may keep. Regardless, their deployment will be such that it would allow them to maintain pressure not just on the Georgian military, but on Georgia's core economic infrastructure -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Lots of questions remain to be answered. All right, Michael. Michael Ware is in Tbilisi, Georgia for us.