Brussels - The European Union was deadlocked on Friday over whether or not to re-start talks with Russia over a strategic partnership that it froze on September 1, despite Russia's troop withdrawal from Georgia, diplomats admitted.

EU foreign ministers are set to meet on Monday in Luxembourg for the first formal debate on relations with Russia since the EU's leaders on September 1 vowed to freeze talks on the strategic deal.

The freeze was to last "until troops have withdrawn to the positions held prior to 7 August," the date Russia's war with Georgia began.

Ahead of Monday's meeting, the French government, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, proposed that the ministers agree that "the next session of negotiations on a new partnership agreement with Russia can be held in November," according to an internal document seen by Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

That proposal was based on the expectation that Russia would pull its soldiers out of all Georgia except the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by midnight Friday.

On Friday afternoon, the EU's top foreign policy official, Javier Solana, confirmed that the withdrawal had been completed.

But some EU member states opposed the French proposal, arguing that Russia still maintains substantial troop presences in the two breakaway regions and is currently building bases there - meaning that it has not pulled all its troops back to pre-war positions.

The French government has therefore dropped all reference to a November resumption of talks from its latest draft, diplomats said.

The treaty in question is set to govern EU-Russia relations in fields ranging from energy and trade to education and culture. It is to replace a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement agreed in 1997. (dpa)