Protest against Russians in Poti

Russian troops are manning checkpoints deep inside Georgia, including in the port city of Poti, after promising a full pullout from the country.

Russian forces waiting to rumble back across the border into Russia at one of their own checkpoints in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia.

Moscow set itself a deadline of Friday night to complete its pullback and by Saturday large swathes of Georgia were free of Russian forces for the first time in two weeks.

There are no more Russian checkpoints along the main highway linking Georgia's capital Tbilisi to the Black Sea - an economic lifeline.

There were angry scenes in Poti, Georgia's main Black Sea port.

Hundreds protested against the presence of some 20 Russian soldiers.

"Putin, what do you want from us?" says this woman.

"Fascists have come to our Georgian soil", she says. "You will never make us fight with each other. Go away!"

The focus is shifting to the buffer zones stretching deep inside Georgia where Russia says its troops will maintain a permanent presence as peacekeepers to prevent more bloodshed.

Conflicting perspectives on the terms of the truce - which Russia insists it is respecting but Georgia and its Western allies say does not feature buffer zones inside Georgia.

While they grope for a response to what's seen as a Russian stranglehold on a key energy transit route, Moscow says it welcomes the deployment of international observers in the conflict zones.

Susan Flory, Reuters