Georgia and Russia have exchanged prisoners, but Russia says to not expect a rapid troop withdrawal as the West's main military alliance met to discuss the conflict.
A reporter saw 13 Georgians exchanged for five Russians at a checkpoint 30 kilometres from Tbilisi.
The Georgians, two of them wounded, had earlier emerged from Russian helicopters that landed near the site.
With no sign of a promised major Russian pull-out, NATO foreign ministers met in Brussels to discuss ways to pressure Russia to stick to a French-brokered peace plan.
But Russia, which sent in a huge force on August 8 to drive off a Georgian assault on Russian-backed separatists in South Ossetia, indicated the promised pull-out might not be quick.
A small column of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles has left the strategically key Georgian city of Gori with a Russian officer saying they are heading back to South Ossetia then Russia.
The column, which also apparently included a mobile rocket-launcher, passed the village of Ruisi, outside Gori on the road to South Ossetia yesterday afternoon.
Colonel Igor Konoshenkov, a Russian military officer, said the unit was headed for South Ossetia and, ultimately, back to Russia.
Colonel Konoshenkov said the movement was part of the Russian pull-back mandated by a cease-fire that required both sides to return to the positions they held before the August 7 outbreak of heavy fighting in South Ossetia, a separatist Georgian province that has close ties to Russia.
Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, said a complete withdrawal depended on the policy of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and the action of his forces.
Mr Rogozin, previously a leading nationalist politician in Moscow, branded Mr Saakashvili a Nazi.
He reaffirmed that Russia would no longer deal with him, and also warned Russia needed a few days to fulfil its obligations under the peace deal.
Russia said a withdrawal began on Monday.
But there have been few signs on the ground of this taking place.
The Georgian foreign ministry had accused Russia of gravely violating the one-week-old peace deal.
The ministry cited new operations by Russia, including the re-occupation of a military base in Senaki in the west of the country where explosions were heard by reporters.
US officials said Russia had moved short-range SS-21 missile launchers into South Ossetia since fighting there halted last week, and had yet to give any sign of a significant pull-back of its troops from Georgia.
Instead, there were indications Russia was adding troops and equipment to its force in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, strengthening its hold over the breakaway Georgian regions, the officials said.
Russia denies deploying the SS-21s.
Despite condemnation from the West, Russia defends its massive attack on Georgia and subsequent occupation of swathes of the United States ally's territory. Speaking in Vladikavkaz, near Russia's mountain border with Georgia, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Georgia could not go unpunished for its assault against South Ossetia.
He said Russia was determined to ensure security throughout the region.
Mr Medvedev warned, ''We will do whatever is necessary, and no one should have any illusion [about this].''
But US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for NATO to reaffirm support for Georgia's bid for membership, warning that Russia had a strategic objective of preventing the Western alliance's expansion. Dr Rice will continue on to Warsaw to sign a deal on deploying part of a missile defence shield on Polish territory, a plan that Russia describes as hostile.
In a sign that Western allies have few cards to play against oil-rich Russia, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said European Union governments would not threaten Russia or impose an ultimatum for a withdrawal.
Under the withdrawal deal brokered by France, Georgian troops must return to bases and Russian troops leave the territory.
An unspecified number of Russian troops are to remain as ''peacekeepers'' in and around South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Georgia fears this force will amount to an unofficial occupation.
The withdrawal will not be implemented swiftly, a defence ministry official said yesterday in the Russian daily Kommersant. ''Nobody is planning to withdraw the Russian contingent very swiftly, as there is no such necessity,'' he said.
United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations have appealed for $58.6 million dollars ($67.6 million) to provide relief aid for tens of thousands of civilians affected by the conflict.
Five more US military flights with relief supplies were dispatched to Georgia yesterday as the US Government considered the possibility of sea humanitarian missions, officials said.
Returning from a visit to Georgia, US Senator Joseph Biden said he would work on preparing an aid package for Georgia worth $1 billion. AFP
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