Michael Ware

Journalist

NR: "The Russians are still playing hardball."


Length: 2:02

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More details about the move out of the undisputed territory and the claims that the Russian troops are simply changing uniforms and becoming 'peacekeeper' forces.



HEIDI COLLINS: Russian forces on the move in neighboring Georgia now. They're apparently keeping a promise to start pulling out.

Want to go live now to CNN's Michael Ware in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. So, Michael, is this the real deal?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, as real as I suspect it's going to get, Heidi. I mean, let's not kid ourselves. The Russians are still playing hardball, as they had done since the beginning of this conflict, and they're going to continue to press the advantage militarily, and perhaps politically, that they perceive that they have gained.

Now, here in Georgia itself, on the front lines, to quote the Georgian national security adviser, "We are seeing a pullback of Russian troops." However, the picture does remain complicated and hazy.

Some checkpoints have been dismantled, others have not. Some troops and armor are on the move out of undisputed Georgian territory. Others remain. Some troops, according to the Georgia Ministry of Interior, have simply been donning peacekeeper uniforms or putting white markers on their uniforms to identify themselves as peacekeepers.

Now, under the cease-fire agreement, as it's written with its current wording, much of this is allowable or within the wiggle room that the Russians have within that agreement. Indeed, the wording is such, it's so broad, that it's literally wide enough to drive a Russian armored column through it. And that's what they're doing.

So, whilst the Russians are pulling back, they're going to stay in the disputed pro-Russian enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and they're maintaining a buffer zone around their so-called peacekeepers inside Georgia itself. The questions are, how far are those zones going to extend? How many troops are going to be in these territories? And just what are they going to be able to do -- Heidi?

COLLINS: Yes, it still sounds like there needs to be a lot of clarification as to what this agreement really means. I have a feeling we'll be following the story for a while.

CNN's Michael Ware joining us from the capital of Tbilisi.