Brussels, 08/09/2008 (Agence Europe) -During their visit to Moscow on Monday 8 September, the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, and the High Representative of the EU for CFSP, Javier Solana, made a certain amount of progress on the implementation of the six-point agreement. Before the meeting, the words of the Russian authorities had led the team to anticipate a difficult meeting, which went on far beyond the scheduled time. Nonetheless, the two sides were able to set a timetable for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia and for discussions on security and stability in Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be held. It is, however, still unclear as to whether an EU ESDP mission will be deployed and Moscow's recognition to recognise the two breakaway regions is definitive and irreversible.
"What we have decided with President Medvedev essentially means: within a week maximum, the lifting of checkpoints between Poti (the Georgian port) and Sinaki" and "within a month, the complete withdrawal of Russian military troops from the territory of Georgia, except Ossetia and Abkhazia", said Mr Sarkozy at the end of a meeting lasting more than four hours in Barvikha, near Moscow. His opposite number, Dmitri Medvedev, announced that "international talks" on Abkhazia and South Ossetia would open in Geneva on 15 October. The French version of point six of the agreement provides for the opening of international talks on security and stability in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, despite certain problems of interpretation due to a translation error in the Russian text (which refers to the security and stability "of" Abkhazia and "of" South Ossetia).
Mr Medvedev also stated that he was prepared to withdraw Russian soldiers from the 'buffer zones' around South Ossetia in Abkhazia, once an international force has been deployed. "We must speed up the deployment of additional observers, including at least 200 observers from the EU, in the areas adjacent to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, to replace the Russian peace contingent by 1 October 2008", said Mr Medvedev. For his part, the French President stated that he had obtained from his Russian counterpart "confirmation of the presence of international observers" in their current mandate, adding: "we will see with Javier Solana whether we can deploy more in the weeks following 1 October". Just before the European delegation arrived in Moscow, a spokesperson to the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs had stated that Russia would oppose the deployment of an autonomous EU mission of observers in Georgia, because, he said, this would lead to an "unnecessary fragmentation" of the missions of the UN and of the OSCE, which are already present on the ground. "The UN and the OSCE are already de facto carrying out" this observation mission, Andreï Nesterenko told a press conference in Moscow. However, Russia hopes that "the EU will actively join in the launch of an OSCE police mission in the security zone adjacent to South Ossetia", the spokesperson added.
In any case, if the decisions taken on Monday on the application of the six-point agreement are implemented in full, there is "no reason" why negotiation meetings on the future EU/Russia strategic partnership should not resume in October, said Mr Sarkozy. The French President was to proceed to Tblissi with Mr Solana and Mr Barroso to present his Georgian counterpart, Mikhail Saakachvili, with the result of their meetings in Moscow. (A.B./H.B./trans.fl)