(16 Aug 2008)
1. General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Deputy Chief of General Staff of Russia's Armed Forces, entering news conference
2. Cutaway of cameras
3. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Deputy Chief of General Staff, Russia's Armed Forces
"Today the Russian Foreign Ministry received a document, which includes those points (of the peace agreement), which have already been signed by the Russian side and have been signed by the Georgian president, without any changes made. All six points, as the basic conditions (of an agreement) for work to begin, now exist."
4. Cutaway of reporter taking notes
5. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Deputy Chief of General Staff, Russia's Armed Forces
"The biggest arsenal has been left in Gori, not in the town itself, but close to it. At the moment we are clarifying the amount of weapons; (at the moment there are) 15 tanks and a great number of various arms. Obviously the supplies were put together at such a speed that the Georgian army could not provide enough crews to operate the machinery and take part in the operation."
6. Cutaway of news conference
7. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Deputy Chief of General Staff, Russia's Armed Forces (includes cutaway of name plate, pull out to Nogovitsyn)
"Yes, we have targeted bridges. As I said before we did this in order to prevent further movement of military units; this is a normal wartime procedure, but now there is peace why would we blow up bridges when we have to restore them? We are hard at work there. I think that this is just more unconfirmed information, and we are not busy with this (bombing bridges)."
8. Nogovitsyn standing up at end of news conference
STORYLINE:
A top Russian general said on Saturday the Foreign Ministry had received a cease-fire agreement, which the Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili signed a day earlier.
"Today the Russian Foreign Ministry received a document, which includes those points (of the peace agreement), which have already been signed by the Russian side and have been signed by the Georgian president, without any changes made," Russian Defence Ministry Spokesman, General Anatoly Nogovitsyn said.
"All six points, as the basic conditions (of an agreement) for work to begin, now exist," he added.
The agreement calls for both sides' forces to pull back to positions they held before fighting erupted on August 8 after Georgia launched a massive barrage to try to take control of the Russian-backed separatist region of South Ossetia.
The Russian army quickly overwhelmed the forces of its small US-backed neighbour and then drove deep into Georgia.
During the news conference in Moscow, Nogovitsyn denied Russia had been blowing up bridges since the peace agreement had been on the table.
He confirmed, however, that Russia had targeted bridges during the fighting.
"I said before we did this in order to prevent further movement of military units; this is a normal wartime procedure, but now there is peace why would we blow up bridges when we have to restore them?"
Nogovitsyn also said the Georgian military had abandoned various caches of weapons, which the Russian side were presently sorting.
"The biggest arsenal has been left in Gori, not in the town itself, but close to it," he told reporters.
"At the moment we are clarifying the amount of weapons; (at the moment there are) 15 tanks and a great number of various arms," Nogovitsyn added.
He said "the supplies were put together at such a speed that the Georgian army could not provide enough crews to operate the machinery and take part in the operation".
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