Russian tanks on Gori streets despite Moscow's assurances of a ceasefire
Updated on 13 August 2008
Moscow says they have no forces in Georgia proper, but Channel 4 News has seen Russian tanks on the streets of Gori.
This programme was told by residents of nearby villages that militias from South Ossetia were burning and looting houses.
Less than a day since Georgia and Russia agreed to a ceasefire to end the conflict, which has been escalating over the past week, and despite intense diplomatic efforts, there is increasing concern over continued military action by the Russians.
Under the terms of a ceasefire brokered last night by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to end hostilities in the breakaway Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abhazia, the Georgian army must return to the positions they were in before last week's fighting began.
Russia must withdraw most of its forces from the two provinces, although it can maintain a peacekeeping presence.
Our foreign affairs correspondent Nick Paton Walsh has travelled to Gori, a town deserted by most its residents but still apparently under the control of Russian forces.
In his strongest gesture of support for Georgia, President Bush pledges to send humanitarian supplies and says Condoleezza Rice will visit Tbilisi, reports Jonathan Rugman.
The president said Russia needs to keep to its promise and withdraw its forces from Georgia.
Meeting in Brussels, European foreign ministers backed calls to send peacekeepers into South Ossetia to monitor the French-brokered ceasefire.
However the meeting also highlighted divisions among EU neighbours about future relations with Russia, with Britain and Eastern European countries such as Poland and Latvia calling for a much harder line against Moscow than Italy and Germany.
