Russia says its withdrawal of combat troops from Georgia is going according to plan and it is not prepared to increase the speed of the operation.
Moscow has set itself a deadline of Friday night to withdraw to a buffer zone around the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
It plans to leave a contingent of what it describes as peacekeeping troops there.
Georgia says it will not accept any "annexation" of its land by Russia.
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Washington says it is prepared to veto a Russian resolution to the UN Security Council seeking to implement a six-point ceasefire plan.
Russia has reiterated its opposition to a rival French text, reaffirming Georgia's territorial integrity.
Russian pace
Correspondents in Georgia say Russian forces are still dug in in some key positions.
But Georgian officials told the AFP news agency that Russian troops had started leaving Gori by 1000 GMT and commanders had promised the pullout from the town would be completed by 1300 GMT.
The deputy chief of the Russian military General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn said the withdrawal of all combat troops was going according to plan.
"The troop pullback has been started at a rate to make sure that the Russian troops be within the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent by the end of 22 August," he said.
"We are not going to correct this plan or increase the speed of withdrawal."
Gen Nogovitsyn said Russian troops were setting up checkpoints on the borders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia with Georgia.
The BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse, at a Russian checkpoint 35km (21 miles) from the Georgian capital Tbilisi, said three Russian tanks were dug in and armoured personnel carriers were still in the area. He said the commander told him they were expected to leave "soon".
Russia's land forces commander, Gen Vladimir Boldyrev, had earlier said that all Russian combat troops would be moved back from Georgia proper to South Ossetia by the weekend and most of the soldiers sent to the region as reinforcements would return to Russia within 10 days.
The first of the Russian Black Sea Fleet ships, which have been off the west coast of Georgia's other breakaway province, Abkhazia, has returned to its base at Sevastopol in Ukraine.
Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko criticised Russia's use of ships from the base leased to Moscow, saying there was a danger of Ukraine being passively drawn into an international conflict against its will. Protesters are reported to have greeted the ship's return on Friday.
'War with Nato'
Russia's four-day war with Georgia began after Tbilisi tried to retake the Moscow-backed breakaway province of South Ossetia on 7 August, following days of clashes with separatists.
Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili told the BBC he would never accept what he called Russia's "annexation of its territory".
He warned that Russia's involvement in South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Georgia were intended to send a strong message to the West.
"If Nato fails now to come up with a united response, nobody's safe, even if they are in Nato already," he said.
"It's all about reconsidering the role of Nato, the role of international law and borders in this part of the world. This is no longer about Georgia anymore.
"Russia decided to win war with Nato without firing a single shot at it."
Meanwhile, a Nato spokeswoman says Russia's defence ministry has decided to halt all military co-operation with the bloc to protest at what Moscow calls the alliance's biased, pro-Georgian view of the conflict.
The move by Moscow followed a Nato statement that there would be no "business as usual" with Moscow unless its troops pulled out of Georgia.
(BBC)
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