TBILISI, Georgia (AFP)--Georgia Friday signed a ceasefire agreement seeking to end its conflict with Russia, as U.S. President George W. Bush accused Moscow of using "bullying" tactics in the standoff.
"With the signing of this accord, all Russian troops, and any paramilitary and irregular troops that entered with them must leave immediately," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Tbilisi.
Despite the accord, brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier this week, Russian armored vehicles and tanks remained deep inside Georgian territory, some even pressing further towards the capital Tbilisi.
Rice, whose visit to Tbilisi was seen as a show of support for President Mikhail Saakashvili's pro-Western government, criticized the Russians for not honoring their promises to halt military operations in Georgia.
"The verbal assurance that President (Dmitry) Medvedev gave that Russian military operations had stopped... clearly was not honored," Rice said.
Scores of Russian armored vehicles were concentrated at a base outside Gori, a strategically key town halfway between Tbilisi and the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia which was the spark for the conflict.
Late Friday a convoy of 10 Russian armored personnel carriers moved from Gori before stopping in a position just 40 kilometers from Tbilisi.
Bush meanwhile complained of Moscow's "bullying" and called on Russia to honor its pledge to withdraw its troops.
"Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century," he said, adding that Russia had damaged its credibility with the West by its offensive against Georgia.
"Moscow must honor its commitment to withdraw its invading forces from all Georgian territory," Bush said outside the Oval Office.
Russian troops entered Georgia in response to a Georgian offensive on August 7 to retake South Ossetia, which broke away in the 1990s.
Russia strongly supports South Ossetia and the second breakaway region of Abkhazia and has given Russian passports to most people in the territories.
"A significant part of Georgian territory remains under foreign military occupation," Saakashvili said alongside Rice.
"Never, ever will Georgia reconcile itself with the occupation of even one square kilometer of its territory," Saakashvili added.
Rice said that the U.S. favored the deployment of a "neutral" international peacekeeping force in Georgia.
As tensions flared between Moscow and Washington, Medvedev also clashed over the crisis with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during talks at the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
While he renewed his support for South Ossetia and Abkhazia, she slammed the Russians for their "disproportionate" use of force and said the territorial integrity of Georgia must be a "basic point" in any plan for restoring peace in the Caucasus.
Medvedev was unrepentant at their joint press conference. "If someone continues to attack our citizens, our peacekeepers, then of course we will answer just as we did," the Russian leader said.
"Russia, as guarantor of security in the Caucasus and the region, will make the decision which unambiguously supports the will of these two Caucasus peoples," Medvedev said.
He said the separatist regions couldn't live under Georgian control again.
"Unfortunately after what has happened it is unlikely Ossetians and Abkhaz can live in one state with Georgians," Medvedev said.