So, why didn't the Russians take away the two regions now? It makes more sense because they would seem less guilty since Georgia attacked first.
Perhaps the unification of those European countries (Ukraine, Poland, Litva, Latvia and a few more) going against Russia, and the EU saying that they would inpose serious sanctions and furthermore consider kicking Russia out of big 8 or whatever they call and also US speaking out, scared them off probably.
Their economy went down 40% or something as a result of this conflict.
One thing I know for sure. Russians dont like taking shit from nobody. Thats their problem. They like to do shit their way. They are arrogant like that. Thats why you heard Medvedev say ''we withdrew troops not because US told us to, but we felt no more need to occupy troops'' or some shit like that. Which is bull shit anyway cause they DID hear what US and others said and it DID have an affect on Russia decision, they just didnt want to make it seem like they did.