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The Boston Globe A3 MONDAY, AUGUST 18, 2008 Russia The World planning limited pulloui ,,9. I fjj No pledge on breakaway provinces backs claims to areas By Borzou Daragahi LOS ANGELES TIMES TBILISI, Georgia The Kremlin said yesterday that Russia's military would begin withdrawing its forces from Georgia today, although it was not immediately clear how far or how fast the troops would move. The statement followed repeated US and European demands that Russia honor the cease-fire agreement it signed Saturday and pull troops out of Georgia proper. But Moscow made no mention of leaving the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, where it has long stationed peacekeepers. Germany's leader, meanwhile, voiced strong support for this former Soviet republic's desire to join NATO, a goal that has fed Moscow's anger toward Georgia and the West.

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France both said they were told by President Dmitry Medvedev that Russia would begin to withdraw its troops. Russia entered its neighbor's territory early Aug. 7 after accusing Georgia of attacking civilians and Russian peacekeepers in South "From tomorrow, Russia will begin the withdrawal of the military contingent which was moved to reinforce Russian peacekeepers after the Georgian aggression against South Ossetia," Kremlin officials said, according to the Reuters news agency. Moscow has made similar commitments in recent days but failed to follow through and has sent conflicting signals. On Saturday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov refused to spell out a timetable for withdrawal, saying it will take "as long as needed" and was contingent on the Georgian security situation.

But Russia's Itar-Tass news service yesterday quoted an anonymous defense of-' ficial saying some units have begun to pull out. Residents received free bread yesterday distributed in Gori, northwest of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Western leaders have stepped up pressure for a swift end to the grip that the Russian military has exerted on its small southern neighbor. Moscow showed no sign of loosening its grip in areas of Georgia its military now controls. Dozens of supply trucks and tanks were streaming south out of Tskhinvali, the capital of Russian-controlled South Ossetia, toward Gori, the town on Georgia's main east-west highway.

All along the road, Russian soldiers had erected checkpoints, taken up residency in an abandoned Georgian military base, and set up roadside tent cities. In Gori, there were signs of a looser Russian grip but also scenes of desperation as Georgians crowded around aid vehicles and grasped for loaves of bread. Virtually all shops were closed and the streets almost empty, except for clusters of people who gathered around aid vehicles and a basement bakery. Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" yesterday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed skepticism about the Russian promise to withdraw. "I just know that the Russian president said several days ago Russian military operations would Daily Briefing Musharraf continues to defy threats of impeachment.

A4 Suicide bomber kills 15 near market in Baghdad. A4 SOUTH AFRICA Zimbabweans near deal, leaders says JOHANNESBURG Zimbabwean negotiators have the basis for a power-sharing agreement and should quickly resolve their differences, southern African leaders said yesterday at the close of a regional summit. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has proposed taking a powerful prime minister's role, conceding the presidency to Robert Mugabe. But the Zimbabwe military opposes a provision allowing the president to use military power only on the advice of the premier. (AP) BRITAIN 2 small planes collide; 5 dead LONDON Two small planes collided in midair and crashed in central England yesterday, killing five people.

The planes slammed into each other near Coventry, about 90 miles northwest of London. The crash involved a Cessna 407 carrying four people, and a light aircraft, with only the pilot on board, police said. The debris from the collision extended across several miles. No one on the ground was reported injured. The cause was not determined.

(AP) AZERBAIJAN Grenade blast hits mosque, killing 2 BAKU A grenade exploded during evening prayers at a packed mosque in Azerbaijan's capital yesterday, killing two people and injuring as many as eight others. An unidentified attacker threw the grenade into the Abu-Bekr mosque, one of the largest in Baku, police said. They said the attacker might have had accomplices. Hundreds of people were inside when the blast occurred. Azerbaijan is a mostly Muslim former Soviet republic with a secular government.

(AP) ISRAEL 200 prisoners to go free to boost Abbas JERUSALEM Israel confirmed yesterday it would release 200 of the estimated 11,000 Palestinians it holds prisoner in the hope of shoring up support for President Mahmoud Abbas and the peace talks he is conducting with the Jewish state. The longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, in jail for 3 1 years, may be among those released, but Abbas's prime minister Salam Fayyad said the gesture was not enough. He demanded that Olmert free all the thousands of Palestinians. (Reuters) MEXICO 12 adults, 1 infant shot dead at parry MEXICO CITY Gunmen killed 13 people at a family party in the border state of Chihuahua, authorities said yesterday. A 1-year-old child was among the dead in Saturday's attack in the mountain town of Creel.

Witnesses told police that gunmen in three pickup trucks, wearing ski masks and dressed in black, fired on a crowd outside a dance hall. Suspicion focused on drug cartels. (AP) SUDAN 8 to be executed for rebel assault KHARTOUM A Sudanese court sentenced to death two senior members of a Darfur rebel group and six others for their role in an military attack near the capital three months ago that killed more than 200 people, court officials said yesterday. The eight include Abdel Aziz Ushar, a senior commander in the Justice and Equality movement. (AP) fm MOBILE: LATEST NEWS LliJ For the latest news on your mobile phone, text "latest" to BOSTON (267866).

stop. They didn't," Rice said. She said Medvedev told Sarkozy that the minute the cease-fire was signed by President Mikhail Saa-kashvili of Georgia, Russian forces would begin to withdraw, but they did not follow through. Saakashvili vowed yesterday that Georgia would never abandon its Claim to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, now firmly in the hands of Russia and the separatists. "Georgia will never give up a square kilometer of its territory," Saakashvili said at a news conference with Merkel.

Merkel, the second West European leader to visit Georgia after the outbreak of its war with Russia, said talks could begin soon on integrating this small country into NATO. It was Georgia's push to join the alliance that apparently prompted Moscow to escalate pressure on Saakashvili's staunchly pro-American government "Georgia, if it wants to become a member of NATO, will become one," Merkel told reporters at the news conference outside the glass-. domed presidential palace in Tbi TH -v- a ill I 1 i Three days we were here, without water, without bread. We had 14 children Zemsira Tiblova, 60, resident of Tskhinvali, Georgia SERGEI GRITSASSOCIATED PRESS condition of anonymity. "Why would they roam around western Georgia and scare people, cut off supply lines and make sure until the civil administration erodes and gradually collapses, if this was not the objective?" Top American and European officials have said they would rethink their ties with Moscow.

"I think that there is a real concern that Russia has turned the corner here and is headed back toward its past rather than toward its future, and my hope is that we will see actions in the weeks and months to come that provide us some reassurance," Defense Secre- tary Robert Gates said yesterday. Later, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said in an opinion article published on Le Figaro newspaper's website that if Russia did not "rapidly and totally" follow the pullout specified in the cease-fire, he would "have to call an extraordinary meeting of the Council of the European Union to decide what consequences to draw." Material from the Associated Press was included in this report. with us. 111 Ml ii- i HI 1 '4 Yi 11. SERGEI GRITSASSOCIATED PRESS clared after an earlier conflict.

This province of Georgia has since had de facto independence from the central authorities in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. Georgian officials accused the Russian peacekeeping force of backing the South Ossetian separatists and failing to rein in their attacks on Georgian villages and territory in Georgia proper. The war has poisoned people here against a future connection with Georgia though the province remains within Georgia's internationally recognized borders. "Georgia is finished here; they are never coming back," Bestaev said. "We cannot live without Rus- grin i at At center of conflict, South Ossetians direct bitterness at Georgia lisi, the capital, 25 miles away from Russian troop positions.

But Georgia's territorial disputes with Russia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia were reasons for not granting Georgia so-called Membership Action Plan status, a prelude to joining NATO. Germany has enormous business interests with Russia and might have more influence with. Moscow than the United States, which is viewed by the Kremlin with suspicion. German officials also have quietly chastised Saakashvili for his boisterous and belligerent rhetorical style, which they see as needlessly inflammatory, European diplomats in Tbilisi say. But regardless of who started the conflict, Western officials have grown increasingly critical of Rus-sian conduct inside Georgia, where they worry about a growing humanitarian crisis.

Thousands of Georgians have been displaced from their homes in the conflict. "They're trying to dismantle this country," said one Western official, on the sidelines of the Merkel news conference, speaking on J. in; i S. in mm pw-v and a half ago. They said they found extensive signs of looting.

Russian military officials attributed the destruction and looting to marauding South Ossetian militias and said officials are trying to restore order. The Georgian government denied that yesterday. The headquarters of Russian peacekeepers in Tskhinvali was Vladimir Ivanov, deputy commander of the Russian peacekeeping force stationed here, said that 15 Russian peacekeepers were killed during the war and that many more were wounded. The peacekeepers have been in South Ossetia since the early 1990s, when a cease-fire was de- r. 1 Lasiii-- 2- J.

nir hit Many apartment buildings were damaged during fighting in Tskhinvali, in the Georgian breakaway province of South Ossetia. The conflict erupted on Aug. 7. pockmarked from small-arms fire. And the city was strewn with the ruined armor of both Georgian and Russian forces.

Here in Tskhinvali, residents have no doubt that Georgia started the war with Russia and there is much bitterness about the rain of artillery and rockets that the government of President Mikhail Saakashvili used in its efforts to capture the city. The Georgian government said much of the destruction of Tskhinvali was caused by a Russian coun-teroffensive, but that argument carries no weight with residents. People insist that a terrible barrage struck the city late Aug. 7 and continued into the morning accounts supported by Western monitors who were also forced into their cellars. Even buildings used by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were damaged, one severely.

The scale of the destruction is undeniable; some streets summon iconic images of Stalingrad during World War II or Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, much of which was leveled in two wars between Russian and Chechen separatists. But the number of dead remains in dispute. Mikhail Min-sayev, the minister of interior in the separatist South Ossetian government, told reporters that as many as 2,100 people had been killed. As of yesterday, Tskhinvali Regional Hospital had confirmed By Peter Finn WASHINGTON POST TSKHINVALI, Georgia The windows were blown out of the bid synagogue here, and the wooden bimah splintered and partly collapsed. Shattered glass covered the floor, and parts of the ornately painted walls were torn off.

But the old building held, and it protected 40 people who took shelter in its spacious basement as the neighborhood above them was reduced to rubble. "Three days we were here, without water, without bread," said Zemsira Tiblova, 60. "We had 14 children with us." "Unforgivable," said her husband, Georgi Bestaev. "It was inhuman to bomb us." The war between Georgia and Russia was centered on this South Ossetian town of about 10,000 people, and it cut a swath of destruction, severely damaging many homes and apartment buildings. Five-story blocks of apartments have gaping holes, with debris blown onto shattered balconies.

In one neighborhood, along Telman Street, house after crumpled house was a scorched shell. The area is about 200 yards from destroyed separatist government buildings in central Tskhinvali, an acknowledged target of Georgian forces. A school, a library, and a kindergarten were blackened and the deaths of 40 people in the violence. Minsayev said people quickly buried the dead in their yards or took the bodies to North Ossetia in Russia for burial. During the trip from the Georgian city of Gori and out to the Ro-ki Tunnel that connects with Russia, the revenge taken by some of the inhabitants of South Ossetia was visible in the Georgian fields set on fire and the blackened, abandoned homes in Georgian villages north of Tskhinvali.

Two homes in those Georgian villages were ablaze Saturday. A United Nations aid convoy entered Gori yesterday, the first time UN officials have reached the city since fighting started a week.