Russian troops are still on Georgia's territory, as it has been for the past ten days, Georgian ambassador to Bulgaria Mikheil Ukleba told a news conference in Sofia on August 18 2008.

The two sides agreed that the Russian troops would withdraw as soon as they sign the cease-fire, which, unfortunately, did not happen, he said. “Russia occupied a whole state. Tens of Russian tanks are going about different Georgian cities,” Ukleba said, adding that the Russian forces were plundering the Georgian countryside.

Ukleba said that the Georgian parliament would adopt a law on the occupied territories in which the Russian troops would be proclaimed occupiers.

“Russia has been preparing itself for this operation for six months,” the ambassador said, explaining that Moscow has been waiting for any provocation on the part of Georgia, be it in Abkhazia or in South Ossetia. According to him, all of Russia's actions were directed towards impeding Georgia's Nato integration, toppling president Mikheil Saakashvili and appointing a puppet government to say Tbilisi did not want to join Nato. And all this given that over 70 per cent of the Georgian people were in favour of their country acceding to the military alliance.

Another big goal of Russia in the conflict was to hamper the alternative energy routes, Ukleba said.

“Russia is telling all former Soviet republics this will happen to them if they set out towards Nato,” Ukleba said. “Russia is currently in isolation. All mass media around the world are objectively assessing what is going on. Russia is backed only by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.”

The economic damages inflicted upon Georgia over the hostilities are very big, Ukleba said. There are problems in the banking sector, ports and oil pipe lines have been cut off, a bridge linking West to East Georgia has been blown up.   

The ambassador said that the exact number of Georgian troops who died in the conflict was not known and that Georgia relied on international observers to come and establish that, should they be let in by Russia. Currently, Georgia is experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe, he added.

Russia's deputy chief of staff, Colonel General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, told reporters later in the day that troops began to pull out, fulfilling the promise made by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, the Associated Press reported.