Georgian leader seek EU help after pull-out deal with Moscow
TBILISI (AFP) — Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Tuesday said further European engagement was needed to resolve his country's dispute with Russia after a pledge by Moscow to pull out troops.
He gave his assessment of Russia's withdrawal plans, brokered by the EU, as Moscow prepared to establish formal diplomatic relations with two Georgian rebel regions where Russian forces remain firmly entrenched.
"We are simply at the very beginning of this major task and there is still a lot to be done," Saakashvili told reporters at a news conference in the early hours of Tuesday alongside French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.
"We must continue to implement the European solution to reach a definitive solution respecting Georgia's territorial integrity and the principle of justice for our country and for our region," he said.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier pledged to withdraw troops from all of Georgia except the two rebel regions provided the EU deploys at least 200 observers to ensure the security of the two regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
There will be a "complete withdrawal of Russian peacekeeping forces" from zones adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia 10 days after the deployment of EU observers, Medvedev said. The observers are due by October 1.
Medvedev also stressed that Russia would not reverse its decision to recognise the two rebel regions as independent -- a decision the EU has condemned.
And on Tuesday an exchange of notes would take place establishing "diplomatic relations at the level of embassies" with the rebel regions, Russia's foreign ministry said.
Sarkozy , who currently holds the EU presidency, earlier sounded conciliatory towards Russia on the Moscow leg of a whistlestop tour to hammer out an agreement.
He said the EU could return to negotiations on a new partnership accord with Russia if Moscow fulfilled obligations agreed on during Monday's talks.
However European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, another member of the EU delegation, expressed the European Union's "solidarity" with Georgia at a press conference in Tbilisi.
The shuttle diplomacy came as Georgia's ally Ukraine was to push for entry to the EU at a summit in Paris on Tuesday between Sarkozy and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
Saakashvili has not formally requested a process towards EU membership for Georgia but is committed to closer ties.
The EU for its part had already committed a greater role in solving the problems of Georgia's territorial integrity before fighting broke out last month over South Ossetia and Russia troops took up positions deep inside Georgian territory.
A summit, largely focused on reconstruction, will be held in Tbilisi next month with the participation of Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and representatives of international financial organisations, Saakashvili said.
Russian media on Tuesday said the EU-brokered deal had not lead to any major concessions by Moscow.
"Russia got what it wanted from Georgia," state daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta said.
The deal was in Russia's "best interest," a senior Russian official told the Kommersant daily. "To get our boys out of there and put European monitors there to keep us apart. Naturally we gladly agreed to that."
Washington on Monday stuck to its firm line, with US President George W. Bush taking a long-awaited decision to freeze a landmark civilian nuclear agreement with Russia in protest at Moscow's military moves in Georgia.
Russian tanks and troops surged into Georgia on August 8 to rebuff a Georgian offensive to retake South Ossetia.
Moscow argued that it repelled Georgian troops to protect thousands of people to whom it had granted Russian citizenship since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Hundreds of people on both sides are estimated to have been killed in the conflict. Tens of thousands fled their homes.
