Russia completes withdrawal from Georgia buffer zones

KARALETI (AFP) - Russian forces completed a withdrawal from buffer zones around Georgia’s rebel regions Wednesday, two months after a war over South Ossetia poisoned relations ybetween Moscow and the West.

Russia abandoned positions around the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said. “They have withdrawn from all of the buffer zones.”

The withdrawal came well ahead of the Friday deadline required by a peace plan brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, current holder of the EU presidency.