EU divided over Russian Talks

EU nations were divided over whether to resume
talks on a political and economic pact with Russia that were frozen in protest over its war with Georgia.

Germany and Italy led the campaign to resume discussions on trade, energy and political ties on Monday after Moscow withdrew its forces from parts of Georgia according to the terms of an EU-brokered cease-fire.

But some EU foreign ministers, led by Britain's David Miliband, said they wanted to see progress in talks on the future of the disputed Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia before pressing ahead with closer ties.

The debate will continue at a two-day EU summit starting tomorrow in Brussels, Belgium, officials said.

EU leaders agreed last month to suspend the talks to show their opposition to Moscow's invasion, a move that irked Russian officials. The leaders of the 27-nation bloc also ordered a review of overall ties and alternative energy sources. Russia supplies a third of the EU's oil and 40 per
cent of its natural gas.

Georgia's Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said Russian military planes twice violated Georgian airspace yesterday over parts of South Ossetia and western Georgia. Russia's Defense Ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told an EU foreign ministers meeting that Russian troops had left Georgian territory outside the separatist regions but had not withdrawn to positions held before the five-day war broke out Aug 7.

Kouchner, who was in Georgia last week, said "there were problems that remain." He said the presence of Russian troops in portions of the breakaway regions that had been under Georgian control before the war, including Abkhazia's Kodori Gorge, a broad swath of South Ossetia, and the town of Akhalgori were still of concern to EU nations.