Russian forces entered South Ossetia after a Georgian bombardment of the region [EPA]

Mikhail Saakashvili said on Sunday that Georgia will never give up a single square kilometre of the country's territory.

He spoke at a news conference with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, after they met in the capital, Tbilisi.

On her turn, Merkel said Russia should withdraw immediately.

Merkel said she expected a "very fast, very prompt" withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia, calling it an "urgent matter."

The German Chancellor also said that Georgia, will join Nato.

"Georgia will become a member of Nato if it wants to -- and it does want to," Merkel said.

It was one of the strongest statements yet of support for Georgia's Nato membership bid, which is fiercely opposed by Russia.

Russian troops remained deployed in the north and west of the country, including units within half an hour's drive of Tbilisi.

Russia says that regular forces will begin withdrawing on Monday but that an unspecified number of Russian peacekeepers will remain.

Moscow is furious at Georgia's attempt to join Nato. The Western military alliance is divided over how fast to accept Georgia, but has indicated that membership is a matter of when, not if.

Pullout order

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia president, ordered the withdrawal of troops from Georgian territory to begin on Monday at midday, according to the Kremlin.

"From tomorrow, Russia will begin withdrawing its military forces that are supporting Russian peacekeepers," Medvedev told Nicolas Sarkozy, his French counterpart, in a telephone conversation on Sunday.

Sarkozy's office said that the French president had warned Medvedev of "serious consequences" if it failed to implement the ceasefire pact it signed on Saturday.

Russian tanks and armoured personnel carriers rolled in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia on August 7 after the government in Tbilisi ordered a bombardment in an attempt to reassert its control.

A French-drafted six-point peace pact requires all forces in Georgia to withdraw to positions held prior to the conflict.

Georgia deployment

However, Russian forces have remained in force around the strategically important town of Gori, about 30km from South Ossetia, which controls the main road to the capital Tbilisi.

Russian troops were reported to also effectively control the city and air base of Senaki, which which sits on a key intersection controlling access to the Black Sea port city of Poti and the road north to Abkhazia.

And on Sunday Russia confirmed that it had taken over a major power plant in western Georgia.

"What we see on the ground clearly shows that Russia is not abiding by the ceasefire that its president has signed ... as of today we are not seeing any reversal of this threat, we are not seeing any withdrawal at all," Shota Utiashvili, Georgia's interior ministry spokesman, told Al Jazeera.

Patrols permitted

Under the peace deal, Russian troops, which entered the conflict to support the South Ossetian separatists, have the right to patrol "a few kilometres" deeper inside Georgia beyond the South Ossetia conflict zone, Georgian and French officials said on Saturday.

Russian troops wil be allowed to carry out patrols inside Georgia [AFP]

The French-drafted agreement calls for an end to all military action, free access to humanitarian aid. It also calls for a demilitarised border zone.

The announcement of the Russian withdrawal came as Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, arrived in Georgia to meet Mikhail Saakashvili, the president. The visit to Tbilisi follows a meeting with Medvedev in the Black sea resort of Sochi.

Earlier on Sunday, there had been confusion over Russia's plans after an army commander said that the pullout had already begun from the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali.

Irina Gagloyeva, a spokesman for the South Ossetian defence ministry, told Russia's Itar-Tass news agency that South Ossetian police were replacing Russian peacekeepers in Tskhinvali.

Major-General Vyachislav Borisov, a Russian commander near the town of Gori, said that Russian peacekeepers were replacing regular troops in the area around the Georgian town.

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