Georgia Insists Russia Complete Full Withdrawal Of Troops

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Russian forces have met a deadline for a partial pullout from Georgia, but the Georgian Security Council chief says the country still demands a full Russian withdrawal to pre-conflict positions.

The official says 1,200 Russian servicemen still remain at 19 checkpoints and other positions, 12 outside South Ossetia and seven outside Abkhazia. Russia says it will pull them out by mid-October as long as 200 European Union observers are deployed to strips of territory surrounding the two separatist regions by October 1st.

To add to the tension, Georgian authorities say a Georgian policeman was killed by gunfire that came from the direction where Abkhazian and Russian forces have been based.

The five-day war between Georgia and Russia killed hundreds of people and drove nearly 200,000 people from their homes.