n't move more than 1,200 tanks and 15,000 soldiers into a country within 12 hours without previous planning , '' Ambassador Vasil Sikharulidze said . The conflict began more than a week ago when Georgian troops entered the breakaway territory of South Ossetia to attack pro-Moscow separatists . Russia responded by invading the country on August 8 , prompting heavy fighting with Georgian forces that spread to another breakaway territory , Abkhazia . The Georgian troops withdrew and Russian forces took control of several areas -- prompting an international outcry . After diplomatic efforts led by France on behalf of the European Union , Georgia and Russian signed a cease-fire . France is the rotating EU head . Russia 's military says its withdrawal from Georgia has begun , but a senior Pentagon official told reporters Monday evening that there has been little evidence of Russian troops pulling out . The official did not want to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue . Watch more on Russian withdrawal '' `` We 're talking about pulling our troops away to the borders of South Ossetia . They will not be on Georgia territory , '' Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn
MOSCOW , Russia -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Russia 's president launched a verbal volley at Georgia 's leaders on Monday , as Georgia hit back with renewed accusations that the Russian invasion was premeditated . Russian soliders on patrol outside the Georgian city of Gori on Monday . President Dmitry Medvedev said : `` The world has seen that even today , there are political morons who are ready to kill innocent and defenseless people in order to satisfy their self-serving interests , while compensating for their own inability to resolve complicated issues by using the most terrible solution -- by exterminating an entire people . `` I think that there should be no mercy for that . We will do our best not to let this crime go unpunished . '' He was speaking at a visit to the military headquarters at Vladikavkaz , near the Russian-Georgian border . Each side accuses the other of `` ethnic cleansing '' during the conflict over South Ossetia , which erupted August 7 . In Washington , Georgia 's ambassador to the United States said the Russian push into Georgia the following day had been long planned . `` You just do