Moscow- Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday called "not essential" the participation of its own troops in a mission of peacekeepers in a buffer zone between Georgia and its Russian-backed separatist regions.

Russia would trust the European Union's security guarantee, Lavrov told journalist in Moscow a day after French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU presidency, promised 200 European monitors to patrol the zones.

"Whether or not ours (troops) form part of the additional monitors is not the most essential question for us," the foreign minister said.

"The rollout of international observers will be a strong enough contingent to substitute for Russia peacekeepers, so that they may easily leave the security zones."

"Then, the responsibility for renewed attempts of Georgian aggression will lay with the international presence. There should be no less than 200 international observers," he stressed.

Russian soldiers are currently involved in a smaller mission of OSCE and UN observers already on the ground.

Sarkozy, flanked by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, reached the groundbreaking accord that set an October 1 deadline for the Russian troop pullback in peace talks in Moscow on Monday.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that, given the European guarantee and a pledge on the non-use from the Georgian side, Russian troops would quit positions deep inside Georgia and pull back to August 7 pre-conflict positions in the rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

But Lavrov projected Tuesday that Russia's military would remain a long time in Georgia's two breakaway provinces. He did not say how many troops would stay.

Russia sent tanks into the former Soviet State on August 8 to repel a Georgian attempt to take back the separatist region of South Ossetia, where most citizens have been given Russia passports since the Soviet collapse.

International peace talks in Geneva have been planned October 15. Russia is demanding that the leaders of the two separatist provinces be included in talks.

"The list of participants is not set yet, but we plainly stated that South Ossetia and Abkhazia should be given a full seat at such discussions," Lavrov told reporters.

Moscow pushed for politicians from both provinces to be part of UN Security Council talks even before the five-day war erupted in South Ossetia, but such requests have become imperatives for Moscow since it recognized the independence of the regions.

Western leaders roundly condemned the unilateral move, threatening to suspend relations with Moscow if it did not reverse its decision.

The South Ossetian and Abkhazian foreign ministers were in the Russian capital Tuesday to formalize establishing diplomatic relations with Moscow, Lavrov said.

Nicaragua is the only state to have followed Moscow's lead in recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia, both de facto independent states since winning a war of succession from Tbilisi in the early 1990s. (dpa)