TBILISI, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Russian forces withdrew completely Wednesday from a buffer zone around Georgia's rebel region of Abkhazia, and were doing the same around South Ossetia, Georgian and Russian officials said.

The posts in Abkhazia were dismantled and 'all Russian soldiers have left' the buffer zone, Georgian interior ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP.

Separately, a Russian commander told Interfax news agency that the last six posts in the buffer zone around South Ossetia, another rebel region, had been closed.

'The personnel from five posts are already in South Ossetia, the last convoy with peacekeepers from the sixth observation post is on its way' to the region's main town, General Marat Kulakhmetov, the commander of Russian forces in South Ossetia, was quoted as saying.

Utiashvili said the Russian withdrawal from the South Ossetia buffer zone was not yet complete but confirmed it was under way, saying: 'All (posts) are either dismantled or are in the process of being dismantled.'

Earlier, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told a conference in France that the buffer zone withdrawals would be completed by midnight (2000 GMT), well ahead of a Friday deadline as detailed in an EU-brokered peace plan.

The Russian military occupied the zones after a brief war with Georgia in August over the two rebel regions, which are backed by Moscow.