Russia starts taking down checkpoints
Russian soldiers began dismantling checkpoints in western Georgia in line with a cease-fire, but a Georgian policeman was shot to death near a Russian checkpoint.
Russia will keep about 7,600 troops in the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia denied violating the cease-fire after the officer’s death near South Ossetia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, meanwhile, complained that a document saying the European Union was ready to deploy monitors throughout Georgia violated a deal to keep them outside the separatist regions.
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