Europe's mission to replace Russian forces inside Georgia began modestly today when the first EU armoured vehicles began patrolling inside the so-called buffer zone next to Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.
After negotiations with Russian troops, two EU vehicles slipped past the Russian checkpoint at the village of Karaleti this morning. They spent an hour and half touring villages occupied by Russian forces before returning to Georgian-controlled territory.
This small but symbolic outing by a handful of French military police officers - unarmed but wearing dark blue berets and EU armbands - marked the beginning of the EU's deployment in four regions of Georgia.
But it was not clear whether the EU's arrival means Russia will now pull out. Under a revised agreement between France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Russia's president Dmitry Medvedev, Moscow has until October 10 to remove its military from generous buffer zones next to South Ossetia and Akbhazia.
Last night Medvedev indicated Russia would leave on time. "Russian peacekeepers will be withdrawn from Georgia within the agreed dates," he said.
EU mission head, Hansjörg Haber, said: "The process has begun. We are entering the adjacent areas. This is the beginning of the takeover."
Today, however, there was no evidence of a Russian withdrawal. Russian "peacekeepers" at Karaleti, three miles north of the city of Gori, in central Georgia, stopped and searched Georgian civilian vehicles. The Russian flag flew above a roadside camp, surrounded by razor wire.
Residents in the buffer zone - most of whom fled during August's brief war between Russia and Georgia - said that South Ossetian paramilitaries continued to rampage in the area. The militias burned down houses belonging to ethnic Georgians, kidnapped civilians and stole cattle, they said.
"The Russians are not doing anything to stop this. They are just standing around," Givi Goligashvili, 68, told the Guardian, riding his donkey-drawn cart to the buffer zone village of Garejvari. He added: "The Ossetians are taking all the cattle from the villages and making the Georgians leave. The Ossetians are now the rulers here."
"If the Europeans and the Georgian police are in position we will go back," Giuli Kasradze, 53, from Ergneti, said - showing off photos on her mobile phone of her gutted two-storey home. Kasradze said that Ossetian paramilitaries had burned down her property, returning on Monday and firing at the last 12 houses in the nearby village of Disevi.
Aid workers today said the region's refugee problem would be largely solved if the Russians left. Some 12,000 displaced residents who fled the conflict are currently camping out in Gori – 2,200 of them in a well-organised tent city on a central sports field. Another 37,000 are staying in Tbilisi.
"Ninety per cent are from the buffer zone. As soon as the Russians withdraw we expect the vast majority to go back," said Stefano Berti, UNHCR's head of field operations in Gori. He added: "The mere presence of EU monitors helps. It gives the impression that the international community is here."
The Kremlin has given ambiguous signals about possible restrictions on the movements of the 323-strong EU force, which includes monitors from the UK. On Tuesday Russian officials hinted the EU would not be allowed into the buffer zone. Today Russian soldiers at Karaleti said this was mere western mischief-making.
"As you can see the EU came here no problem,' a Russian officer standing at the Karaleti checkpoint told the Guardian, as French and Polish monitors began an afternoon patrol. "To suggest otherwise is to make a sensation." Asked when he intended to leave Georgia, he said: "We will do everything in accordance with the agreement."
Russia has refused to allow the EU beyond the zone and into South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia's other breakaway region. It recognised both as independent in late August and has recently signed agreements allowing it to maintain a permanent military garrison of 7,600 troops. Medvedev earlier agreed to pull his forces back to their pre-conflict positions.
British diplomats concede that persuading Russia to withdraw from Georgia's separatist regions is a long-term project. At the same time EU enthusiasm for sanctions against Russia appears to have evaporated, with the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly unlikely to agree on punishing Moscow during a debate on the conflict later tomorrow.
