KHOBI, September 10, 2008 (AFP) - In villages in western Georgia, Russian soldiers are packing up to leave, rolling up barbed wire and removing equipment, but the process is anything but fast, residents said Wednesday.

And in some areas, Russian forces are even moving into new positions.

At a Russian checkpoint near the village of Khobi, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the breakaway region of Abkhazia, a Georgian woman in a small shop said she had seen Russian soldiers preparing to leave.

'I saw them gathering up their things, removing poles and barbed wire,' she said.

An AFP reporter also saw Russian soldiers removing poles and barbed wire at the checkpoint. The Russian officer in charge said some soldiers had left and preparations were under way for the full withdrawal from deep inside Georgia.

Asked when the pull-out would take place, the officer told AFP: 'In a few days.'

'Half of our equipment left yesterday. We were previously 24 and now we are 15. We will be gone by the expected date and are ready to leave more quickly if we are asked to.'

'We are preparing but we are waiting for the final order to leave,' the officer added.

'We received on Tuesday morning an order to begin preparing and gathering our things to leave,' added the officer, who refused to give his name.

His comments were echoed by a Russian captain at another checkpoint, in Patara Poti, where soldiers were loading blocks of concrete into a truck.

'We are preparing to leave, we were given the order to gather our things,' said the captain, who gave his name as Anton.

On Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he had secured Russia's agreement to a withdrawal of all Russian forces from uncontested areas of Georgia, leaving Russian troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

At another checkpoint in western Georgia, near the village of Teklati, residents also said there had been signs of the Russians leaving.

'Yesterday, for the first time, about 20 of the soldiers took their equipment and left,' said Lyudmila Natchkebia, who lives with her two daughters in a disused factory where the Russians had set up a checkpoint.

But there were no signs the position was being completely dismantled. The abandoned factory remained surrounded by sandbags, six or seven soldiers could be seen manning the checkpoint and an armoured vehicle was parked nearby.

Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP there were no indications of a major Russian pullout from areas deep inside Georgia, including near the strategic port of Poti, where a US navy flagship delivered aid last week.

And in the village of Ganmukhuri, local officials and residents said about 40 Russian soldiers had taken up a new position, replacing militia forces from Abkhazia.

'Yesterday morning, 70 Abkhaz militiamen who were occupying the village left. But 40 Russian soldiers arrived soon after,' said the head of Ganmukhuri's local administration, Johny Mishuelia.

An AFP reporter saw about 20 Russian soldiers manning a position in the village, wearing regular army uniforms without markings identifying them as part of Russian peacekeeping forces.

Georgian officials had said that Russian forces had withdrawn from Ganmukhuri in the 'first sign' of the promised withdrawal, but on Wednesday corrected their information to say only Abkhaz forces had left.

Residents said there were few problems with the Abkhaz militia forces, who had occupied a large home in the village, but that they feared the Russians.

'Everything went fine with the Abkhaz, there were no problems. It is the Russians who scare us, we want nothing to do with them,' said Lorita Lazaria, 50.

One of Lazaria's neighbours agreed, saying the Abkhaz 'played with the children and told us they did not want to be our enemies. The problem is the Russians. They will never leave without pressure from Europe.'

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced details of the new timetable for the withdrawal of Russian forces at a news conference with Sarkozy on Monday.

It envisages the pull-back of all Russian troops from Georgia apart from South Ossetia and Abkhazia within a month and the deployment of 200 EU observers to join 220 other monitors on the ground.

Russia's military surged into Georgia on August 8 to rebuff a Georgian offensive to regain control of South Ossetia from Moscow-backed separatists. It went on to recognise the two breakaway regions as independent states.

Russia withdrew most of its forces from the country shortly after last month's five-day war but maintained positions in the rebel regions and in extensive 'buffer zones' around them.