Russia defies Georgia, West on troop levels

MOSCOW - Only Russia and the "states" of South Ossetia and Abkhazia will decide how many troops Moscow can keep on their soil, Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin said yesterday, signaling that the Kremlin will do as it pleases in the separatist Georgian regions.

The statement was in frank defiance of calls by Georgia, the United States and the European Union for a withdrawal of most Russian troops from the breakaway territories, which only Russia and Nicaragua have recognized as independent nations.

Thumbing its nose at Georgia and the United States, South Ossetia rolled what Russian media said were captured U.S.-made jeeps and Georgian tanks through its capital in an Independence Day military parade.

The developments underscored the reality taking shape in the aftermath of last month's war.

Putin stressed that Russia would adhere to its promise to pull back from the strips of land surrounding South Ossetia and Abkhazia once European Union monitors were deployed. Those areas are Georgian territory, he said.

But he said any "possible" Russian pullout from South Ossetia and Abkhazia themselves was a "separate issue," suggesting Moscow's recognition of the separatist regions as independent nations has changed the rules.

"The question of the presence of our armed forces on these territories will be decided bilaterally, in the framework of international law and on the basis of agreements between Russia and these states," Putin told a news conference in the seaside resort of Sochi with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.

The remarks indicate Russia will continue to ignore Western calls to pull nearly all its forces out of Georgia under a cease-fire deal brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to end the five-day war that erupted last month in South Ossetia.

The United States and European countries say Russia is violating its commitment to withdraw its forces to pre-conflict positions. Russia has announced plans to maintain nearly 8,000 troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, far more than in the months before the war.

Putin said Russia has no intention of annexing any land, saying it was "solely a question of providing security in the region."

Putin suggested that by backing Kosovo's independence declaration in February, Western nations had ruined any argument against Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

"It is not we who opened this Pandora's box," he said.

In the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, residents lined streets to watch South Ossetian soldiers and vehicles roll by, behind what Russian media said were Georgian tanks, armor and military vehicles - booty grabbed as Georgian forces retreated.