Russia said it will keep thousands of troops in the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abhazia, as it began a pullout from other sections of Georgia. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on September 9th that Russia will maintain a military presence in both territories for a "long time." Meanwhile, the U.S. Defense Department announced it is sending a team to Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, to assess how to help Georgia rebuild its military, crushed by Russian troops during the recent invasion. VOA's Robert Raffaele has more.
