Russia: Georgia cease-fire implemented

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday his country has finished implementing its terms of the cease-fire agreement with Georgia.

Medvedev said in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, that Russian leaders have done all that was expected of us, we have fulfilled all the commitments we undertook, RIA Novosti reported Friday.

Russia told the European Union Thursday that all troops had been pulled out of the buffer zones surrounding the breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions.

However, Moscow said it needed to retain several thousand troops in the regions to prevent further violence.

Georgian officials, however, contend that Russia's duties under the cease-fire deal will not be fully met until all the country's troops are pulled back to positions occupied before the five-day war in August.

The concerns that we have are that the Russian side clearly says that it will not under its voluntary intent withdraw forces from the rest of the territory of Georgia, Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili told the BBC Thursday.