The Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, today ordered an end to the military offensive in Georgia.
Speaking on national television, Medvedev said Russian forces had punished Georgia and restored security for Russian peacekeepers and civilians in the separatist South Ossetia region.
"The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses," he said. "Its military has been disorganised."
Soon afterwards, Russian military officials confirmed that forces would remain where they were until there was a reaction from the Georgian government in Tblisi.
Colonel General Anatoly Nogovitsyn said they would retaliate against any "provocation".
Denis Keefe, the British ambassador to Georgia, told BBC television: "If this news that military operations are stopping is correct, then it is what this country needs and we can then get on to build peace.
"This is a beautiful place with a wonderful people. They don't deserve the suffering that has been inflicted by military operations."
The reported halt to the Russian advance came as the French president, Nicholas Sarkozy, travelled to the capitals of Russia and Georgia in an attempt to mediate in the conflict.
Earlier, the Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, said his country had been split in two as Russian forces continued to advance.
Saakashvili said the main east-west route through Georgia had been cut off, separating the east of the country from its western Black Sea coast.
He accused Moscow of "ethnic cleansing" in the breakaway province of Abkhazia, where local forces were today reported to be trying to remove Georgian troops from the northern area of the Kodori gorge.
The Abkhaz forces' operation was announced by Sergei Shamba, the foreign minister of the Abkhaz separatist government, who said a UN observer mission in the area had been warned and had withdrawn.
"Everything is developing according to plan," he said.
The UN and Nato were also meeting today as the west stepped up efforts to persuade Russia to agree a ceasefire with its US-backed neighbour.
Violence began in South Ossetia, the other Russian-backed separatist province in Georgia, last week.
However, Russian forces have advanced much further into Georgia and are now only a few hours from the capital, Tbilisi.
Moscow has denied it has any intention of marching on the city. Saakhashvili has urged residents not to panic, saying they would have seven or eight hours' warning of any impending troop advance.
Russian officials denied Georgian claims that soldiers had occupied the central town of Gori, which has been bombarded by air strikes.
Speaking after an emergency UN security council meeting last night, the Georgian UN ambassador, Irakli Alasania, said: "A full military invasion of Georgia is going on."
