Georgia, Russia exchange war prisoners

IGOETI, Georgia (AP) – Russia and Georgia on Tuesday exchanged prisoners captured during their brief war, a move that may reduce tensions and, Georgia hopes, hasten the promised withdrawal of Russian troops.

Georgian Security Council head Alexander Lomaia said the swap removes any pretext for Russians to hold positions in Igoeti. The village is the closest that Russian forces have advanced to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, about 30 miles away.

Yet as NATO foreign ministers prepared to hold an emergency meeting in Brussels over a unified response to Russia’s invasion of its tiny neighbor, there still was no sign of the Russian troop pullout from Georgia that was supposed to have begun Monday.

A Russian defense official indicated Tuesday that a complete withdrawal from Georgia proper was not imminent.

“Rear units, as well as second- and third-echelon units are being pulled back first. The vanguard units will be pulled back at the final stage,” Col. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russia’s land forces, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

Tuesday’s prisoner exchange, witnessed by Lomaia and Russian Maj. Gen. Vyacheslav Borisov, included 15 Georgians and five Russians, Lomaia said.

“It went smoothly, he said.

The swap began when two Russian military helicopters landed in Igoeti. Two people in stretchers were unloaded and handed over to Georgian officials.

Georgian ambulances later brought two people to the scene and took them to the Russian helicopters. One was on a gurney.

Russian troops last week drove Georgian forces out of the Russian-backed separatist region of South Ossetia, where Georgia on Aug. 7 launched a heavy artillery barrage.

At NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pushed NATO allies to step up political and military ties with Georgia and to consider scaling back high-level meetings and military cooperation with Russia if its military does not abandon positions across Georgia.

Rice said the U.S. supports a permanent NATO-Georgia Commission that would solidify ties between the western alliance and the Black Sea nation, and supports increasing training for the Georgian military.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on arrival that the allies must “ensure Russia does not learn the wrong lessons from the events of the last two weeks. Force cannot be the basis for the demarcation of new lines around Russia.”

NATO was also expected to discuss support to efforts to send in an international monitoring mission being set up by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a security grouping that includes Russia, Georgia and western nations.

Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, whose country holds the OSCE presidency, said Russia had agreed on a plan that would send 20 unarmed military observers there, besides nine already in place. The total could later go up to 100, the OSCE says.

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