Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Hundreds of Georgians chanted ``Russians go home'' at the Black Sea port of Poti today to protest checkpoints set up by Russian troops manning armored personnel carriers.

Protesters waved Georgian flags in front of about 15 Russians near the Rioni River as international observers arrived in Georgia a day after Russia announced completion of a troop pullback under terms of the French-brokered cease-fire over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

The pullback failed to satisfy President George W. Bush, who has called for a full withdrawal of all troops that entered Georgia after Aug. 6. Bush and his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, spoke by telephone yesterday and urged Russia to ``continue and complete'' its withdrawal from Georgia, Sarkozy's office said.

The Bush administration said today checkpoints violate the cease-fire accord.

``There are very specific requirements for Russian withdrawal,'' spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in Crawford, Texas, where Bush is vacationing at his ranch. ``Putting up permanent facilities and checkpoints are inconsistent with the agreement.'' The White House is ``in contact with the various parties to obtain clarification,'' he said.

Truce Conditions

In an indication of the continuing fragility of the situation, Sarkozy said in a statement he had agreed in a phone call with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on replacing Russian patrols in the buffer zone outside South Ossetia with international monitors. The Kremlin, referring to the same conversation, said in a statement read over the phone to Bloomberg News that there had been ``no discussion'' of replacing Russian peacekeepers in the security zone.

Russia Deputy Chief of Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn told reporters in Moscow earlier today that the withdrawal of Russian troops had met the truce conditions of Sarkozy. He also said about 2,100 civilians had died during the conflict in South Ossetia, a separatist region controlled by Russia. There has been no independent confirmation of casualties since the conflict began.

The Council of Europe's human rights commissioner, Thomas Hammarberg, meanwhile, landed in the Russian city of Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, state-run Vesti-24 TV showed. He said he plans to speak with refugees there before heading to the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali, Gori and the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

Russian Checkpoints

``I will not go into politics here,'' Hammarberg said in Vladikavkaz. ``I will exclusively study aspects related to human rights and will prepare recommendations for ensuring these rights are upheld now and going forward.''

Russian officials say troops are currently located in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and that peacekeepers have been deployed in buffer zones that extend into Georgia from the borders of both regions.

In Poti, Guram Gakhua, a Georgian resident of the port city, expressed disbelief at the newly manned Russian checkpoints.

``I can't believe this is happening, they have expanded control and now they want to control Georgia,'' Gakhua told a visiting reporter. ``This checkpoint was never here before.''

The protesters, chanting ``Russians go home, long live Georgia!'' in front of Russian forces manning the checkpoint, drew no response from the troops, who waved to the cameras and refused to speak to journalists.

Ships Destroyed

Three Georgian ships at Poti were destroyed by the Russian military during the conflict, according to the port's Georgia border police. The wreckage of one military ship and a police vessel was seen by a Bloomberg reporter in Poti.

Russia's defense ministry said in a statement on its Web site Aug. 19 that it had established a peacekeeping post in Poti, which it said would remain until the local administration returned to the city.

Oleg Sichinava of the Georgia border police's Poti department said seeing the ships sink and being blown up, as well as looting by Russian troops, made his ``heart just sink.'' He said five people were killed in the navy area and two in the civilian port.

Georgia's parliament voted today in a special session in Tbilisi to prolong a ``state of war'' until Sept. 8.

Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, chairman of the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said in Tbilisi yesterday that the OSCE will deploy 20 armed observers and seven armored personnel carriers in the conflict zone this weekend. Some monitors have already arrived and another 80 will be deployed in coming weeks, the OSCE said.

Russian Withdrawal

``This is significant because an OSCE deployment can only be made with Russian agreement,'' said Jan Techau, a security analyst at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin. Russia is a member of the 56-nation OSCE. ``The OSCE serves as a sort of intelligence-gathering body and will make the situation on the ground far more transparent.''

Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said yesterday that Russia had withdrawn its troops, which numbered 10,000 at the peak of the conflict according to the state Russian news service RIA Novosti, into South Ossetia before their planned pullout to Russia. Vladimir Boldyrev, head of Russian land forces, said on Aug. 21 that it would take 10 days to bring those forces home.

Russian troops moved into South Ossetia after Georgia's military advanced into the region where Russia had 588 peacekeepers stationed before the conflict.

The pullback has upset the U.S.

Rift With West

``We are not seeing that they are in compliance right now,'' White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said yesterday in Crawford, Texas, where Bush is at his ranch. ``They have not completely withdrawn from areas considered undisputed territories.''

Russia needs ``to withdraw all troops and assets that entered after Aug. 6,'' Johndroe said.

The first major foreign military operation by Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 widened a rift with the West, which has courted Georgia and Ukraine, both former Soviet republics, to counter Moscow's influence in the region.

The United States opposed Georgia's attack on South Ossetia and also condemned Russia's ``illegal'' military actions in Georgia, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza said in comments broadcast today on Ekho Mosvy radio station.

``It was wrong to attack Tskhinvali and we urged Georgian officials, senior officials, not to attack,'' Bryza said, adding that Russian actions in Georgia ``violate international agreements'' and will hinder Russia's more than a decade-long push to enter the World Trade Organization.

``The WTO members will respond,'' he said.

NATO Ships

Nogovitsyn said today the situation in the Black Sea may ``worsen'' as NATO sends more military ships to the region ``under the guise of bringing humanitarian aid.''

``This is a routine exercise, which had been planned 18 months in advance and has got nothing to do with the current crisis in Georgia,'' NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said from Brussels. ``We also asked for permission to cross the Bosphorus.''

NATO currently has three vessels in Black Sea, one each from Spain, Germany and Poland. The U.S. frigate USS Taylor is on its way to join the group for exercises with Romania and Bulgaria, NATO said.

Georgia Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili said only Russian peacekeepers can remain on Georgian territory under the cease-fire. ``But this is a temporary measure under the agreement,'' she said in Tbilisi. Georgia considers South Ossetia part of its territory.

`Georgian Sovereignty'

Russia has deployed 272 peacekeepers at eight posts along a buffer zone that extends up to 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from South Ossetia's border into the rest of Georgia, said Nogovitsyn. Another 180 will be deployed in a second line of posts on the border.

``Russia's decision to keep troops in a buffer zone outside of South Ossetia is arrogance aimed at the Georgians,'' said Techau. ``The Western states don't want any violation of Georgian sovereignty.''

The Russians have repeatedly said they are observing the cease-fire brokered by Sarkozy, the current holder of the European Union's rotating presidency. The agreement calls for the withdrawal of Georgian and Russian troops, renunciation of force, an end to all military operations and a commitment to making humanitarian aid freely available in the conflict zone.

Both Georgia and Ukraine have been promised eventual membership in NATO, which has frozen contacts with Russia to protest its Georgian incursion. Georgia is considered an important strategic ally to the West in part because of its role in a U.S.-backed ``southern energy corridor'' that connects the Caspian Sea region with world markets, bypassing Russia.

South Ossetia, Abkhazia

South Ossetia and Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in wars in the early 1990s. Russian peacekeepers have served in South Ossetia under a 1992 agreement with Georgia.

Russia also has 2,142 peacekeepers in Abkhazia under a Commonwealth of Independent States mandate, Nogovitsyn said. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on Aug. 12 that Georgia is quitting the CIS, a former Soviet republic group that excludes the Baltic states.

Speaking late yesterday at the country's Security Council, Saakashvili said the Russians must leave South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Bush has insisted that the regions remain a part of Georgia. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Aug. 14 that Russia will support the regions' decisions on their legal status though he stopped short of formally recognizing them.

Both houses of Russia's parliament will discuss whether to recognize the two regions in special sessions on Aug. 25.

To contact the reporters on this story: Helena Bedwell in Poti, Georgia, via hbedwell@bloomberg.net; Maria Levitov in Moscow at mlevitov@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 23, 2008 15:48 EDT