Tblisi -- as of Noon Today

Georgia Says Accord Broken as Russia Occupies City
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In addition, hundreds of Russian soldiers poured over the border from Russia into South Ossetia on Wednesday afternoon. Attack helicopters and fuel trucks accompanied a long convoy of dozens of trucks.

Bitterly criticizing the United States and other Western countries for letting his country down, President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia said Russia had flagrantly defied the peace accord and effectively severed the country in two.

In Gori, more than a dozen tanks roamed the center of the city, which lies about 40 miles from Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. Some news agencies reported that a column of Russian tanks had left Gori, headed toward Tbilisi, but then turned off on a road leading back to Russia. Those reports could not be independently confirmed.

The Russian military denied that it had taken over Gori, but a spokesman for Russian peacekeeping forces confirmed that Russian soldiers were operating around the city and had taken over a Georgian weapons depot “with the purpose of demilitarizing the zone adjacent to the conflict area and also guaranteeing the safety of the civilian population,” according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

In Gori, the commander of the Russian battalion said that his soldiers were looking for Georgian fighters who were violating the cease-fire agreement; Russia could argue that the agreement allowed for such activity. Occasional gunfire could be heard around the city.

The Russian soldiers were letting civilians leave Gori but were preventing anyone from entering. By the afternoon, the town was relatively empty, but knots of stragglers were still filtering out.

The accord Mr. Saakashvili and his Russian counterpart, Dmitri A. Medvedev, agreed to under pressure from Western powers is not specific about where Russian and Georgian troops are allowed to be in Georgia. Under the deal’s somewhat vague terms, Russia may claim that it is allowed to send troops where it believes its interests are threatened.

Mr. Saakashvili’s protests were joined by those of the leaders of several former Soviet countries in Eastern Europe, who were in Tbilisi to show their support for Georgia.

Valdas Adamkus, the Lithuanian president, said: “Let the world finally wake up and take action, and provide security for the region. We are creating a situation that could get out of hand.”

Mr. Saakashvili said Russian forces had all but established an economic blockade of Tbilisi and criticized Western countries, including the United States, suggesting that they had appeased Russia and let Georgia down.

“Today, the West’s very will is tested,” Mr. Saakashvili said in a telephone call with journalists. “The main thing is if the West fails now, then it will have tremendous consequences for the world for years to come.”

A human rights group said that its observers in South Ossetia had seen at least four villages burning. The group, Human Rights Watch, said the villages used to be populated exclusively by ethnic Georgians and the observers saw South Ossetian militias and Russian military vehicles moving on the road.

Outside of Gori, black smoke could be seen rising from the city from the direction of a Georgian military base.

Inside the city, there was the sound of small-arms fire, and two tank rounds were fired, but the firing later died down.

The Russian tank commander bragged that his troops were ready for another head-on confrontation. “It all depends on what Saakashvili is going to say. If he doesn’t understand the situation, we’ll have to go further. It’s only 60 kilometers to Tbilisi,” the commander said, speaking at a checkpoint on the Gori-Tbilisi road. “He doesn’t seem understand that the Russian army is much stronger than the Georgian army. His tanks remain in their places. His air force is dead. His navy is also. His army is demoralized.”

The confusion underscored the fragility of the agreement, which Russian and Georgian leaders, still seething at one another, signed under pressure from Western countries eager to prevent the escalation of the conflict in the volatile Caucasus region.

Russian troops on the outskirts of Gori said they were stationed there to protect the population from irregular fighters who were reported to be stealing cars in the area.

Two Russian tanks blocked the entrance to the town on the road from Tbilisi. About 20 soldiers stood nearby, holding Kalashnikov rifles and smoking.

Their commander, who gave only his first and middle names, Mikhail Petrovich, said the troops were securing the area against harassment from both sides in the conflict. He said there was sporadic shooting by locals and from thieves, including “nonlocal Ossetians,” an apparent reference to pro-Russian irregulars. White smoke rose from behind a nearby hilltop and some gunfire could be heard.

Reporting was contributed by Matt Siegel in North Ossetia, Russia; Thanassis Cambanis, Clifford Levy, Ellen Barry and Anne Barnard from Moscow; Andrew E. Kramer from Tbilisi, Georgia; Michael Schwirtz from Zugdidi, Georgia; Justyna Mielnikiewicz from Gori; and Graham Bowley from New York.