South Ossetian militias, who entered into Perevi last week, have pulled out from the village, located at the breakaway region’s administrative border, the Georgian media sources reported citing locals from the village.

EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM) confirmed that militias had left. A mission spokesperson told Civil.Ge on Sunday that “small number” of Russian troops were back into Perevi and they were now manning the checkpoint there. 

French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, welcomed the South Ossetian withdrawal from the village and said at a news conference in Washington, as quoted by AFP: “This reassures me that [Russia’s President] Medvedev is a partner with whom we must maintain a dialogue."

Late on Sunday, EUMM released a statement saying that “the installation last weekend of South Ossetian forces was exacerbating tensions causing many people to leave the village during the past week.”

“The EU insists that the Perevi checkpoint as well as the village of Perevi are clearly outside the administrative boundaries of South Ossetia and that they should be relinquished by both Russian and Ossetian units,” the statement reads. “The EUMM hopes that the return of Russian units will contribute to an improved situation for the local population.”