Gori bombed after Russian pullout declared

MOSCOW, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Russian leaders Tuesday dictated their terms for ending the hostilities in Georgia even as Russian forces shelled the town of Gori, killing a Dutch journalist.

Moscow's primary demands are that Georgian forces withdraw completely from South Ossetia and that Georgian leaders agree not to use force to resolve the territorial dispute between the two nations, The Guardian reported. Russia also insists the populations of South Ossetia and a second breakaway region, Abkhazia, be allowed to vote on whether they want to join Russia, the British newspaper said.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was trying to engineer an end to the fighting, indicated there was cause for hope.

"We do not yet have a peace deal, we have a provisional cessation of hostilities, but this is significant progress," Sarkozy said.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev announced he had halted Russian military operations in Georgia. However, about 30 minutes after he ordered the cease-fire, observers noted three Russian helicopters fire nine missiles at targets 25 miles north of Tbilisi, the Telegraph reported.

"The difference between lunatics and other people is that when they smell blood it is very difficult to stop them," The Guardian quoted Medvedev as saying about Georgia's incursion into South Ossetia that provoked the Russian response. "So you have to use surgery."

The Russian artillery strike was the first against Gori since the conflict started five days ago, The Daily Telegraph reported. Gori, a town of about 70,000 people, is about 15 miles south of Georgia's border with South Ossetia.

A Dutch journalist was killed and another wounded after a shell exploded outside a press center housing Western reporters in Gori, the Telegraph reported.