Prisoners of war paraded in Russian show of force

Russia took the first steps toward a troop pullback from Georgia yesterday but at the same time paraded blindfolded and bound Georgian prisoners on armoured vehicles and seized four U.S. Humvees.

The mixed signals came as NATO allies met in emergency session in Belgium and demanded Russia fulfil its promise to withdraw its forces from the small former Soviet republic.

A small Russian column including three tanks, three trucks, five armoured personnel carriers and a rocket-launcher left Gori, the central city that straddles a vital east-west highway. A Russian officer said they were headed for South Ossetia, the disputed province at the heart of the conflict, then home to Russia.

The move toward withdrawal came on the same day as a powerful image of Russia's grip over Georgia: Russian trucks and armoured vehicles carrying about 20 Georgian men, blindfolded, handcuffed and held at gunpoint.

They were taken from the western city of Poti to the nearby, Russian-controlled military base in Senaki, according to Poti's mayor, who said he had been told they would be released today.

Mayor Vano Taginadze said the men, Georgian military and police troops, had been taken captive because the Georgians refused to let Russian armoured vehicles into the port of Poti, along Georgia's Black Sea coast.

A Georgian defence spokeswoman said eight servicemen detained while trying to guard the port were among those held.

Also in Poti, Russian soldiers commandeered four Humvees that had been used in U.S.-Georgian military exercises and were destined to be shipped back to the U.S.

The Pentagon was looking into the incident. Georgian Deputy Defence Minister Batu Kutelia said Russian forces seized the vehicles.

Russian forces in Poti also blocked access to the city's naval and commercial ports yesterday 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, and a Georgian interior spokesman said the Russians had blown up the boat.

The acts of force demonstrated anew that Russia, days after agreeing to a ceasefire with Georgia, remained in control in much of the country, and that the state of the Georgian military was far from stable.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Russia was not only flouting its withdrawal commitment but that its forces were "not losing time" in damaging Georgia by destroying infrastructure.