Nato foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels for emergency talks to discuss how the alliance should respond to Russia's military action in Georgia. The OSCE says Russia has agreed to let 20 military observers in Georgia and is awaiting Tbilisi's green light.
Earlier in a gesture of goodwill, Russian and Georgian troops exchanged prisoners at a checkpoint near the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.But Tbilisi says Russia is not pulling out of Georgia, a charge Moscow denies.
The 20 observers will supplement the current nine OSCE observers already based in South Ossetia, says the chairman of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, speaking on the sidelines of the Nato talks. Officials in Tbilisi said there was no evidence that Russian troops were leaving Georgian territory, but the Russian defence ministry said the redeployment had begun and would be complete within days.
The exchange of 15 Georgian soldiers for five Russian soldiers took place at a Russian checkpoint in Igoeti, about 30km (18 miles) away from Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. See map of the region. The conflict broke out on 7 August when Georgia launched an assault to wrest back control of the Moscow-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia, triggering a counter-offensive by Russian troops who advanced beyond South Ossetia into Georgia's heartland.
A ceasefire was signed at the weekend, with Moscow pledging to begin pulling back its troops. As Nato's 26 foreign ministers meet in Brussels, there is disagreement among the alliance as to how to respond, so the focus will be on where members can agree. It is thought that in one camp, the UK, Canada, the US and most Eastern European member states will seek a tough stance on Russia, but most of Western Europe, led by France and Germany, is expected to be more cautious of harming ties with Moscow.
Flying to the Nato meeting, Ms Rice told reporters on Monday: "We have to deny Russian strategic objectives, which are clearly to undermine Georgia's democracy, to use its military capability to damage and in some cases destroy Georgian infrastructure and to try and weaken the Georgian state."
