Moscow/Sochi - The European Union will resume partnership talks with Russia as early as October if Moscow withdraws its troops from the Georgian mainland completely, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Saturday after meeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort Sochi.

Putin had promised that the remaining Russian troops would be withdrawn from Georgia, Fillon was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency after the talks, which also saw France and Russia agree on future cooperation in the area of space aviation.

Moscow/ Sochi, Russia - German ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Thursday 100 million euros were being spent on an environmental study of the Nord Stream pipeline project for gas from Russia to Germany, which he chairs.

"The most acute problems for the realisation of the Nord Stream project are of course issues over ecological preservation," Schroeder was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.

He made the comments at a meeting with Russia's premier Vladimir Putin and the head of national energy Gazprom Alexei Miller in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Sochi, Russia - Russian President Dimitry Medvedev Friday described Poland's decision to go ahead with the stationing of parts of a US anti-missile shield on its territory as "sad for Europe," but simultaneously spoke out against "dramatizing" the conflict.

Following talks on the situation in Georgia with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Medvedev said further talks were needed.

The decision taken Thursday by Poland, and earlier by the Czech Republic, to host elements of the US shield, "has the Russian Federation as its target," Medvedev said.