Russia has all the capabilities to deliver a tough response to any act of aggression against its citizens, President Dmitry Medvedev said Monday.

Medvedev warRussian President Dmitry Medvedev is seen in the Gorki residence outside Moscow August 10, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

"If someone thinks that our citizens can be killed, soldiers and officers who are peacekeepers can be killed with impunity, we will never permit that," he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

Anyone who tries to do so will receive a crushing response, warned the president at a meeting with World War II veterans in the city of Kursk, southwest of Moscow.

Russia has the capabilities -- economic, political and military-- for such a move, he added.

"Russia is not attacking anyone. On the contrary, it is guaranteeing the life and dignity of people, including its own peacekeepers," said Medvedev.

Russia declared a halt to its military offensive in Georgia on Tuesday after days of fighting in South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia.

Medvedev on Saturday signed a French-brokered peace plan, which was earlier signed by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and the leaders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway region of Georgia.

Russian troops and armored vehicles began to pull out from the Georgian city of Gori on Monday afternoon under the terms of the peace plan.

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2008)