Vienna  - The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) cannot send monitors to the Georgian region of South Ossetia for now, after talks broke down owing to Russia's insistence that the officers should not be stationed in the separatist province.

"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 South Ossetia, diplomats said Russia wants to keep monitors out of that region.

Brussels  - The European Union should not re-start talks on a partnership agreement with Russia until it pulls some 4,000 extra troops out of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, sources from a number of member states said Thursday.

"Talks on the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) should not be opened before the Russian troops have decreased their numbers, including in South Ossetia and Abkhazia," an EU diplomat who asked to remain anonymous told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

London  - This summer's conflict between Russia and Georgia should lead to a "more considered analysis" of NATO enlargement to avoid eastward expansion becoming a "game of Russian roulette," a leading defence research institute warned Thursday.

The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said the conflict had marked the "distinct end of the romantic phase of the post-Cold War order" and cast doubt on whether Georgia would be a "responsible member" of the NATO alliance.

Stockholm - The Swedish cabinet Thursday approved to provide civilian observers and other personnel to support a European Union ceasefire mission to Georgia.

The Swedish contribution would number some 25 personnel to staff a field office, a government statement said.

"The Swedish contribution of personnel and equipment is an expression of Sweden's commitment to peace and security in the southern Caucasus," the ministers for defence, justice and international development cooperation said in a joint statement.

The exact division of observers and other staff was yet to be decided, officials told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Brussels - European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Wednesday said the European Union may resume talks on a cooperation agreement with Russia, even if Moscow maintains a military presence in Georgia's separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.