Russian generals say Georgia pullback is progressing

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- Having made their point and accepted the French-brokered cease-fire, Russian military commanders are signaling that they are prepared to pull their military forces out of the former Soviet republic of Georgia according to the agreed timetable.

Gen. Vladimir Boldyrev, Russia's ground forces commander in the strife-torn little Caucasus republic on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, said the process of evacuation had already begun and was going smoothly. He pledged Thursday it would all be done within 10 days.

"They will require around 10 days to move out of their current positions, and the convoys will enter Russia through South Ossetia according to schedule," the general said, according to a report carried by RIA Novosti. He also announced that 500 Russians described as peacekeepers would start their work Friday.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed Monday to a six-point plan proposed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to guide the evacuation. Russian forces invaded Georgia on Aug. 8 in response to a Georgian incursion with artillery and ground troops attacking the city of Tskhinvali, capital of the Russian-backed secessionist enclave of South Ossetia.

RIA Novosti also quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying Thursday: "Russia is honoring in full the six principles of the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan which was approved by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Tuesday. ... Work to equip peacekeeping outposts in the security zone will be completed tomorrow -- eight outposts are to be equipped."

However, the conflict in Georgia appears far from over: Russia looks unlikely to halt its moves to destabilize the tiny republic of 4.4 million people until strongly pro-American President Mikheil Saakashvili, who authorized the Georgian incursion into South Ossetia that provoked the Russian invasion, is toppled from power.

U.S. President George W. Bush wants to support Saakashvili and take retaliatory actions against Russia, but his main NATO allies -- Britain, Germany, France and Italy -- are all opposed to such policies.

Russia, Ukraine collide over Black Sea fleet procedures.

Ukraine appears determined to try to squeeze the Russian Black Sea Fleet out of its historic home in the fortress city and port of Sevastopol.

Russia retained a port enclave in Sevastopol to run the fleet when Ukraine became independent following the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991. However, on Thursday Ukrainian Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov gave the go-ahead to implement a decree issued the previous week by President Viktor Yushchenko demanding that Russia inform the Ukrainian government in advance of all activities by aircraft and warships of the Black Sea fleet.

RIA Novosti, reporting the new Ukrainian policy Thursday, described Yushchenko's new procedures as "complicating the rules of deployment for Russia's Black Sea Fleet."

"Under the Defense Ministry instructions, the first deputy chief of Ukraine's General Staff will be made responsible for the coordination of moves of the Black Sea fleet's units outside of places of their deployment. The instructions will come into effect once they are registered with Ukraine's Justice Ministry," RIA Novosti reported.

If fully implemented, Yushchenko's decree would be an operational and bureaucratic nightmare for any military or naval combat force to fulfill. But it was motivated by Ukrainian fears that Russia may move against Ukraine following its invasion of Georgia, another pro-Western former Soviet republic and key Ukrainian ally.

India may build "next gen" battle tank with Russia.

India's military procurement relations with Russia are still on a roll. Over the past half-year we have been documenting in these columns a vast range of new orders and expansions of old ones that have given Russian manufacturers of aircraft, warships and land weapons systems an ever-larger share of the huge Indian arms market, estimated to require $50 billion worth of new orders over the next five years.

Last December India announced the purchase of 347 state-of-the-art T-90S Main Battle Tanks to be assembled in India under license from Russia. The order was even larger than a 2001 order for 310 T-90S tanks.

The T-90S is already operating for the Indian army, and the Indians must be happy with the results, because Sivathanu Pillai, managing director of the BrahMos Indian-Russian joint Aerospace military arms manufacturing corporation, said Tuesday that New Delhi was contemplating designing and building a radically innovative "next generation" main battle tank with Russia.

RIA Novosti Tuesday quoted Pillai as claiming that once the new MBT was designed, it could be manufactured in Russia. India is now manufacturing its own version of the T-90S, known as the Bhishma, with Russian cooperation.

BrahMos already manufactures for the Indian armed forces an advanced supersonic cruise missile capable of speeds of more than Mach 2, or around two and a half times the speed of the U.S. armed forces' workhorse Tomahawk cruise missile.

This achievement was of the greatest strategic importance to India. Indian engineers and scientists have achieved impressive results in recent years with intermediate-range and intercontinental range missile prototypes, even successfully test-firing their own anti-ballistic missiles. However, they have failed so far to advance to the reliable mass-production of such complex weapons systems that can satisfy demanding operational standards.