Tbilisi - Georgia and Russia made their first prisoner exchange on Tuesday as NATO leaders were set to meet in Brussels on the Ossetia war.

Russian officials at the Igoeti checkpoint, at the boundary between Georgian and Russian lines, handed over 13 Georgian prisoners of war and received 5 Russian servicemen in exchange.

It was the first handover of prisoners between combatants since the outbreak of the Ossetia war earlier this month.

The turnover had been planned for Monday but fell apart over accusations from both sides of procedural violations including incorrect names on POW lists.

Paris - Former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze Tuesday labelled Russia a threat to Europe and called for Moscow to be punished for its invasion of Georgia.

"The Georgia conflict is a test," the former Soviet foreign minister told the French daily Le Parisien. "If the Europeans let Russia away with this, what guarantee can they then give Poland or the Baltic states if the scenario repeats itself?"

Brussels - NATO foreign ministers will offer political and practical support to Georgia and will review the alliance's ties with Russia following its "excessive use of force" in the Caucasus, officials in Brussels said Monday.

At Tuesday's emergency meeting, which was requested by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, ministers will also call on Russia to observe the ceasefire and respect Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity by withdrawing its troops.

Moscow - The president of Georgia's pro-Russian separatist region of South Ossetia dismissed his government Monday and proclaimed a state of emergency, days after Georgia and Russia signed a six-point EU-mediated peace plan aimed at defusing the crisis in the Caucasus.

"I have signed three decrees, including one on the resignation of the government, another on proclamation of a state of emergency in South Ossetia and the third on setting up an emergency committee to settle the consequences of the Georgian aggression," Eduard Kokoity told Russia's Vesti-24 television.

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy demanded that Russian troops withdraw "without delay" from Georgia, adding that "this point is not negotiable in my eyes."

In an article to appear in Le Figaro newspaper Monday, Sarkozy said he would convene a special European Union summit if Russia failed to remove its military troops that entered Georgia on and after August 7.

"If this clause of the ceasefire accord is not applied rapidly and totally, I would summon an extraordinary European Council to decide what consequences to draw," the article said.

New York - Unit