Correction Appended
TBILISI, Georgia — The presidents of Georgia and Russia agreed early Wednesday morning on a framework that could end the war that flared up here five days ago, after Russia reasserted its traditional dominance of the region.
Tamar Enukidze, 29 and three months pregnant, wept over the body of her husband, Mamuka Katsadze, 42, killed in the Georgian port city of Poti. More Photos »
Declaring that “the aggressor has been punished,” President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia announced early Tuesday that Russia would stop its campaign. Russian airstrikes continued during the day, however, and antagonisms seethed on both sides.
By 2 a.m. on Wednesday, Mr. Medvedev and his Georgian counterpart, Mikheil Saakashvili, had agreed on a plan that would withdraw troops to the positions they had occupied before the fighting broke out.
Whether the agreement holds or not, Russia has achieved its goals, effectively creating a new reality on the ground, humiliating the Georgian military and increasing the pressure on a longtime antagonist, Mr. Saakashvili.
Russian authorities make no secret of their desire to see Mr. Saakashvili prosecuted on war crimes in The Hague, and could well try other measures to undermine him. Mr. Medvedev also authorized Russian soldiers to fire on “hotbeds of resistance and other aggressive actions.” As the conflict cools and hardens, the two separatist regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, could wind up permanently annexed by Russia.
But in signing on to an accord, Russia appears to have stopped short of a full-scale invasion that would have set off a broader cold-war-style confrontation with the West. Its actions have already aroused widespread alarm about Russia’s redrawing of the geopolitical map, and some fear that they could undermine democratic gains in a region that was once part of the Soviet sphere. But Mr. Saakashvili’s military attack on the South Ossetians has also drawn criticism as needlessly provocative.
“The tanks should go. I hope they will,” said Mr. Saakashvili, emerging from a meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, who carried the document from Moscow to Tbilisi.
“There was a degree of constructive ambiguity” in the document that allowed the announcement to be made, said a senior European diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Western negotiators, who had shuttled between the Georgian and Russian governments for days, said they were optimistic that the crisis was under control.
“Traditionally, we will see a few skirmishes, but frontal attacks and positioning will end,” said Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb of Finland, the chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The Bush administration is expected to cancel a scheduled naval exercise with Russia and to press NATO to prohibit a Russian warship from joining a separate alliance exercise. A cancellation would be the first concrete reprisal against Russia for its military actions in Georgia.
As the news of an impending cease-fire filtered across Georgia on Tuesday, citizens reacted with relief and defiance. At a rally in Tbilisi, a euphoric crowd waved signs that read “Stop Russia,” and Mr. Saakashvili announced Georgia’s withdrawal from the “Russia dominated” Commonwealth of Independent States.
“I saw Russian planes bombing our villages and killing our soldiers, but I could not do anything, and this will always be with me,” he said. “I promise that I will make them regret this.”
The presidents of five former Soviet republics — Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine and Poland — flew into Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, and appeared beside Mr. Saakashvili in a show of solidarity.
“I am a Georgian,” said Toomas Hendrick Ilves, the president of Estonia.
In Gori, citizens ventured out of their hiding places and began to sweep up glass and debris. Cars began to move on the streets of the city, where five people were killed Tuesday. Izmar Chivolidze sat on a curb that was stained with blood and strewn with broken glass.
“Putin did this,” he said, speaking of Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. “Putin created this circus.”
Other areas of the country remained on a war footing. In the port of Poti, bombing was heard an hour after Mr. Medvedev’s statement early Tuesday morning. Georgia withdrew its remaining forces from the Kodori Gorge after four days of attacks by Abkhaz and Russian forces, said Shota Utiashvili, a spokesman for Georgia’s Interior Ministry. He said 22 civilians had been killed during the day.
“Russia has said it has ended its invasion, but in reality, it has not,” Mr. Utiashvili said. “We should all prepare for the worst.”
The long-running dispute between Russia and Georgia boiled over on Thursday, after Mr. Saakashvili ordered Georgian forces to move into South Ossetia, a breakaway region with strong ties to Russia. Russian authorities say 2,000 people were killed in fighting around Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, and more than 30,000 refugees fled over the Russian border.
These numbers could not be confirmed independently, and some analysts believe that Russia is citing them to bolster its war crimes allegations against Mr. Saakashvili.
By Tuesday morning, Georgian forces were in retreat. The road from Gori to Tbilisi was completely clear of Georgian forces, except for vehicles that had been abandoned.
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This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: August 22, 2008
An article on Aug. 13 about an agreement between
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