GORI, Georgia—Russian troops deep inside Georgian territory are stopping thousands of refugees from returning to their homes, a Georgian official said on Saturday.
Russian troops were still manning checkpoints in Georgia and patrolling a Black Sea port even after Moscow pulled back much of the force it deployed to crush Georgia's attempt to take back two separatist provinces.
Moscow has since recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, drawing a storm of criticism from Western governments. They say the Russian presence in Georgia's heartland amounts to a partial occupation.
Russia sent in troops and armor three weeks ago after its pro-Western neighbor Georgia sent in troops in a failed attempt to retake South Ossetia. Moscow said the move was needed to prevent a "genocide" of civilians by Georgia.
The governor of Gori, a Georgian city occupied by Russian forces during the brief conflict, said Russian soldiers still occupied nearby Georgian villages and preventing residents from returning home.
"The Russians have checkpoints and we still cannot bring these people back home. The threat of paramilitary, irregulars, looting and robbing is still very high," Governor Lado Vardzelashvili said.
"Apparently the Russian military are not willing to prevent these kind of cases."
Russia says it is within its rights under a ceasefire to maintain peacekeepers in a buffer zone outside the rebel areas, a point disputed by EU president France which brokered the deal.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown discussed the agreement on Saturday with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin said, before a EU summit in Brussels designed to formulate the European Union's response to Russia's actions.
Medvedev told Brown why Moscow had recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia and said Russia was complying with the ceasefire accord which "fully retained its value", the Kremlin said.
A British spokesman in said: "We are not going to be drawn on the details of that conversation. The next step will be the European Council meeting on Monday."
Vardzelashvili said 28,000 people from villages in the Gori region still could not go home. The number could not be independently verified but Human Rights Watch has urged Russia to investigate reports of burning and looting of Georgian villages by Ossetian militias.
A member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Tennessee Republican Bob Corker, met Vardzelashvili in Gori's town hall. Nine Italian Red Cross aid trucks stood by a huge statue of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, Gori's most famous son.
Corker toured a school where U.S. government aid agency USAID and Mercy Corps were looking after 98 refugees and he spoke to residents who said they were unable go home. USAID said it had brought in more than $30 million of aid so far.
Two U.S. vessels, the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul and the Coast Guard cutter Dallas have already delivered aid to Georgian ports. A third vessel, the navy command ship USS Mount Whitney, is under way with a third delivery.
The McFaul and the Dallas scrapped plans to dock in the port of Poti, where Russian troops have set up checkpoints and still patrol over the objections of Georgia and Western governments.
Russia views with suspicion the use of U.S. warships to deliver aid to its Georgia and says it is worried by the build-up of alliance navy ships in the Black Sea, where the Russian navy has traditionally been dominant.
A senior U.S. diplomat in the region has said Washington pleaded with Tbilisi to refrain from attacking the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali and stay out of the conflict.
Diplomats have said EU nations were reluctant to impose sanctions and had received signals from the Kremlin that it would retaliate.
