Vienna - Talks overs sending 80 more observers to Georgia broke down at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on Thursday, as Russia insisted the officers should not be stationed in the South Ossetia region.

"There is no point in continuing negotiations in Vienna, at this stage," said Finland, the current OSCE chairman, in a statement.

While most of the organization's 56 members want to deploy unarmed military monitors in all of Georgia, including the breakaway province of South Ossetia, diplomats said Russia would like to keep monitors out of that region.

According to a Western diplomat, Finland broke off the negotiating process after Moscow insisted on changes to a text on which the Russian and Georgian delegations had agreed.

Talks had been going at the Vienna-based OSCE since August 19.

So far, 20 OSCE monitors are stationed around South Ossetia. (dpa)