New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will take part in talks next week in Geneva to try to settle the Russia-Georgia conflict and determine the future role of the UN in the Caucasus, a UN spokeswoman said Friday.
Ban will join representatives of the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Geneva on Tuesday, a day before the start of official negotiations on the Georgian conflict.
Tbilisi/Moscow - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Friday again called on Russia to withdraw from Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Georgia will never accept Russian occupation of either region nor Moscow's recognition of their independence, Saakashvili was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.
The Georgian leader made the statements at a meeting with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in the Georgia city of Batumi on the Black Sea.
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.
Brussels - The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, confirmed Friday that Russia has withdrawn its troops from Georgia's buffer zones, in accordance with an international deal.
"I am happy to announce that EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) patrols have confirmed that Russian armed forces have completed their planned withdrawal from the areas adjacent to Abkhazia and South Ossetia," Solana said in a statement.
New York - The UN Security Council on Thursday extended its former UN military observer mission in Georgia for just four months rather than a longer period because of the unsettled Russian-Georgian conflict in that country in August.
The mission's new mandate will expire in mid-February. Its 153 military observers were caught in the fighting between Russia and Georgian troops and had to be evacuated in August from their posts in the Kodori Valley that separates breakaway Abkhazia and the Tbilisi government.
Helsinki - The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Thursday welcomed Russia's withdrawal from buffer zones set up near the separatist province of South Ossetia in Georgia, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said.
Finland currently holds the chair of the 56-nation organization.
OSCE military observers had "observed the withdrawal," Stubb said in a statement.
OSCE observers, however, reported that Russian troops have not withdrawn from the Alkhagori area, he added.
New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will take part in talks next week in Geneva to try to settle the Russia-Georgia conflict and determine the future role of the UN in the Caucasus, a UN spokeswoman said Friday.
Tbilisi/Moscow - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Friday again called on Russia to withdraw from Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
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.
Brussels - The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, confirmed Friday that Russia has withdrawn its troops from Georgia's buffer zones, in accordance with an international deal.
New York - The UN Security Council on Thursday extended its former UN military observer mission in Georgia for just four months rather than a longer period because of the unsettled Russian-Georgian conflict in that country in August.
Helsinki - The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Thursday welcomed Russia's withdrawal from buffer zones set up near the separatist province of South Ossetia in Georgia, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said.
