Elsewhere, Russia exchanged POWs with Georgia and pulled back some troops from the strategic city of Gori.

It was a day of deeply mixed messages that left the small, war-battered country full of anxiety about whether Russia was aiming for a long term military presence in Georgia or was just trying to inflict the maximum damage before adhering to a troop withdrawal that Russia had promised under a EU-brokered cease-fire.

At an emergency meeting in Brussels, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her 25 NATO counterparts demanded that Russia immediately withdraw its troops from Georgia, a U.S. ally that wants to join NATO. The NATO foreign ministers announced the alliance "cannot continue with business as usual" with Russia as long as its troops remain in Georgia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the NATO comment, saying the alliance was pursuing anti-Russian policies and supporting an aggressive Georgia.

But it was in Poti _ Georgia's main oil port _ where Russia flexed its military muscle most visibly.

Russian forces blocked access to the city's naval and commercial ports on Tuesday morning and towed the missile boat Dioskuria, one of the navy's most sophisticated vessels, out of sight of observers. A loud explosion was heard minutes later.

Several hours later, an Associated Press photographer saw Russian trucks and armored personnel carriers leaving the port with about 20 blindfolded and handcuffed men riding on them. Port spokesman Eduard Mashevoriani said the men were Georgian soldiers.

The Russians also took four Humvees that were at the port awaiting shipment back to the United States, equipment that had been used in earlier U.S.-Georgian military exercises.

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