TBILISI, Ga. — Russian soldiers have withdrawn from a Georgian village near the rebel-held region of South Ossetia they had held since the 2008 Russia-Georgia war.

Georgian Foreign Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said in televised comments that the troops left the village of Perevi on Monday and a Georgian army unit had moved in.

Thousands of Russian soldiers remain stationed in South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian region, Abakhzia, since the war. Russia and a handful of other countries consider the regions independent nations, but the West does not. Georgia maintains the provinces are occupied.

Monday's troop withdrawal was mediated in Geneva, where multiparty talks continue over Georgia's future.

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