Russian President Dimitry Medvedev on Saturday signed the six-point plan European Union-mediated plan to defuse the crisis in the Caucasus, the Kremlin announced, dpa reported.
Medvedev's signature comes a day after Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili signed the document which had been brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on behalf of the EU.
Just before the Kremlin announcement of Medvedev's signature, the Russian Foreign Ministry had divulged a telephone call between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in which Moscow insisted Saturday on Georgia's adherence to the six-point plan.
Saakashvili signed the document on Friday in Tbilisi, with Rice looking on. Afterwards, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev announced Moscow's aim to sign it.
The United States then sent a telefax copy of the document with Saakashvili's signature to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The agreement is not a peace settlement but provides the basis for a legally binding text to end the fighting and pave the way for a political solution.
The United Nations Security Council is to formalize the six principles.
Among others, one of the key points is the withdrawal of Russian armed forces to positions held before hostilities began in South Ossetia.
Other points include no recourse to use violence between the protagonists, the cessation of hostilities, the granting of access to humanitarian aid, the return of Georgian armed forces to their usual quarters and the opening of international discussions on the modalities of security and stability of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The framework plan falls short of the original proposal by the EU presidency. The draft had called for the "full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia" and the deployment of a EU or UN peacekeeping force.