TBILISI -- A Russian army commander says a retreat by Georgian troops from rebels left Russian soldiers vulnerable to attack as they guarded a keyGeorgian railway, a military newspaper said Tuesday.
'I have only one comment: Georgian forces retreated, leaving (Russian) posts uncovered,' Russian Maj. Gen. Boris Dyukov said in the official Russian Defense Ministry newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star).
He was openly critical of Georgia battlefield behavior and said the retreat that left Russian soldiers exposed violated agreements reached between Moscow and the Tbilisi government.
'For the time being we are continuing to protect the railway line,' Dyukov said.
The Georgia retreat that exposed Russian troops to rebel fire occurred around Senaki, one of the western Georgian cities and rail junctions that has traded hands several times and been the object of bitter fighting.
The latest fighting has been around Khobi, a city leading to the rebel command center in Zugdidi, where ousted President Zviad Gamsakhurdia is directing the fight against the government of Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze.
The fact that Russian troops are finding themselves in the crossfire has raised new questions about Moscow's military role in protecting the transportation corridors belonging to its southern neighbor but which also deliver supplies to two more ex-Soviet republics, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Both the Russian and Georgian governments have denied that Russian troops were engaging the rebels in combat, though Gamsakhurdia supporters have accused Russia of intervening in Georgia's affairs.
Shevardnadze explained the retreat from Senaki as a measure to protect civilians in the city, but Lyukov's comments underline the fact that Russian troops are inescapably in the field of battle.
Gamsakhurdia's men fired on Russian troops during the battle for a key bridge near Senaki and the village of Marani over the weekend.
The reputation of the Georgian troops under Shevardnadze's command has suffered during recent fighting: they were defeated by separatists in Abkhazians and they have been unable to wrest control of western Georgia from the rebels. Now comes the criticism of the Russian commander.
Shevardnadze himself has been at or near the front during much of the fighting, apparently reluctant to leave because his troops are in disarray, morale is low and, efforts to impose a unified command have failed. Government troops are even alleged to have been involved in looting areas liberated from rebel control.
One of the few disciplined military units in Georgia, the non- government paramilitary 'Horsemen' led by Shevardnadze ally Dzhaba Ioseliani, was brought under government command in an effort to bolster Tbilisi's fighting force.
The disorder in the Georgian military has prompted some Russian commentators, such as the independent daily Segodnya, to call for an expanded role by Russian troops in Georgia.
