Russia seizes US vehicles

By John Matthew Hall and AP
Tuesday, 19 August 2008

Russian soldiers today held blindfolded Georgian servicemen at gunpoint and
commandeered US Humvees in a dramatic sequence of events in Poti, a key
Black Sea port.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe stated that if Russia has seized any
US military equipment in Georgia, it must return it immediately.

In Poti, on the Black Sea, Russian forces blocked access to the naval and
commercial ports this morning and towed the missile boat Dioskuria, one of
the navy's most sophisticated vessels, out of sight of observers. A loud
explosion was heard minutes later.

Several hours later, an Associated Press photographer saw Russian trucks and
armored personnel carriers leaving the port with about 20 blindfolded and
handcuffed men riding on them. Port spokesman Eduard Mashevoriani said the
men were Georgian soldiers.

The Russians also took with them four Humvees that were at the port awaiting
shipment back to the United States after taking part in earlier US-Georgian
military exercises.

The deputy head of Russia's general staff, Col.-Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn,
said in Moscow that Russian forces plan to remain in Poti until a local
administration is formed, but did not give further details. He also
justified previous seizures of Georgian soldiers as necessary to crack down
on soldiers who were "out of any kind of control ... acting without
command."

A small column of Russian tanks and armored vehicles left Gori on Tuesday,
and a Russian officer said they were heading back to South Ossetia and then
Russia. It was the first sign of a Russian pullback of troops from Georgia.

The column, which also apparently included a mobile rocket-launcher, passed
the village of Ruisi, outside Gori on the road to South Ossetia on Tuesday
afternoon.

Col. Igor Konoshenkov, a Russian military officer, told The Associated Press
at the scene the unit was headed for South Ossetia and, ultimately, back to
Russia. He gave no timetable for when the unit would reach Russia.

Konoshenkov said it was part of the Russian pullback mandated by a
cease-fire that requires both sides to return to positions held before
fighting broke out Aug. 7 in South Ossetia, a separatist Georgian province
with close ties to Russia.

Elsewhere, Russia they exchanged POWs with Georgia and pulled back some
troops from the strategic city of Gori.

It was a day of deeply mixed messages that left the small, war-battered
country full of anxiety about whether Russia was aiming for a long-term
military presence in Georgia or whether it was just trying to inflict
maximum damage before adhering to a EU-brokered cease-fire and troop
pullout.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-seizes-us-vehicles-902432....