Russia ‘halts’ Georgia op

WASHINGTON : With a crisis of Cold War proportions brewing, President George W. Bush demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The White House also bluntly rejected Russian demands that the Georgian leader step down.

Hours later, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev ordered a halt to the military action, saying it had brought security for civilians and Russian peacekeepers in the breakaway South Ossetia region.

“The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its military has been disorganised,” Medvedev said Tuesday in a nationally televised statement.

Also on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili must leave office, and demanded that Georgian troops stay out of the breakaway South Ossetia region for good.

The G 7 diplomats called on Russia to respect Georgia’s borders and expressed deep concern for civilian casualties. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer urged both sides to withdraw to pre-conflict positions. Calling for an immediate end to hostilities, Scheffer added that a return to the status quo ante was required. He underlined that as far as NATO was concerned this meant respecting Georgia’s territorial integrity, including both its Moscow-backed breakaway regions: South Ossetia and Abkhazia..