Russian is pulling back its troops from inside Georgian territory.
The move comes ahead of the Friday deadline when Russia is to dismantle six checkpoints inside Georgia.
These checkpoints form part of a buffer zone Russia had set up after the war with Georgia two months ago.
Senior Russian officials confirmed that the checkpoints would be dismantled by Wednesday evening.
The pullout is being monitored by European observers.
Russia has made it clear it will retain 8,000 troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia on whose behalf it fought and defeated Georgian forces in August.
European Union (EU) observers started their mission on October 1 to monitor the Russo-Georgian ceasefire agreement one and half months after conflict flared between the two countries over Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Russian troops still in Georgia prevented the observers from entering the security zone they set up around South Ossetia.
"It is not a categorical ban on the EU mission; it's just that the details of the monitoring mission have not been cleared up yet," a Russian military spokesman told Interfax news agency.
A decision on allowing the EU observers into the buffer zone would be taken later, he said.
The 350 EU observers, most of whom are police officers, are in the region to monitor the ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops from the buffer zones around South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
(with inputs from IANS)
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