A day after the truce was brokered by French President Nicholas Sarkozy, Russia faced mounting criticism in the West for its continuing military offensive in Georgia, and US President George W Bush demanded that Russian troops withdraw from the country.

After five days of fighting, President Medvedev of Russia ordered his troops in South Ossetia to hold their fire and fixed a peace plan with President Sarkozy of France. In the United States, there was widespread dismay over the ease with which Moscow had imposed its will on a loyal US ally.

The decision by the Russian President was announced just as French President Nicolas Sarkozy was due to arrive in Moscow for talks aimed at ending the conflict in Georgia, centred on the Moscow-backed rebel region of South Ossetia.