Russian soldiers were dismantling checkpoints in western Georgia yesterday, official and witness said, two days after Moscow pledged to pull back forces from deep inside its neighbor.

A television reporter saw soldiers removing concrete blocks and wooden posts at a checkpoint in the village of Pirveli Maisi near Khobi, about 30 km from the de facto border with breakaway Abkhazia.

Some 40 km west, in the Black Sea port of Poti, mayor Vano Saginadze said some soldiers and armored vehicles had been removed from two checkpoints at the entrance to the town, and trucks had taken away ammunition.