Russian Army Leaves Georgian Buffer Zones

Russian troops have withdrawn from the “buffer zones” that separate the secessionist republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia from the rest of Georgia ahead of Friday's deadline, the BBC reports. Though Russia plans to keep 7,600 troops inside the breakaway republics themselves, the move "paves the way for the resumption of negotiations on an ambitious" EU-Russia partnership, said Nicolas Sarkozy.

Russia has asked that EU monitors deployed to the buffer zones remain as peacekeepers, but has barred them from entering Abkhazia and South Ossetia, so they won’t be able to monitor the Russian forces inside the regions. Speaking at a summit in France, Dmitry Medvedev praised the role of the EU’s role in "finding a peaceful option for overcoming the Caucasus crisis." (More Georgia stories.)