EU delegation to visit Georgia over Abkhazia

By Marja Novak Reuters - Friday, May 9 12:48 pm

LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - A group of European Union foreign ministers will go to Georgia next week to try to ease tension between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway region of Abkhazia, diplomats said on Friday.

The EU and NATO said last week that Russia had fuelled tensions by deploying extra troops in the Black Sea coastal territory that broke away from Tbilisi in a war after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The dispute between Georgia and its former Soviet master could further complicate EU efforts to launch talks on a new cooperation pact with Moscow.

"We expect the Slovenian, Swedish, Polish and Lithuanian foreign ministers to go to Georgia on Monday," a source in Slovenia's EU presidency said.

"The visit could ... help easing tensions between Georgia and Russia," said a Lithuanian foreign ministry spokeswoman.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said the visit would be aimed at establishing how dramatic the situation really was and averting its escalation through peaceful politics.

"Neither the foreign minister of Slovenia ... nor the European Union have any intention of supporting one side against the other now. That would be wrong," Rupel told a news conference in Ljubljana on Friday.

"What we want is to establish what is the real situation and of course prevent escalation," he added.

He said he did not believe that Georgia and Russia were near physical confrontation as a senior Georgian official had said.

"We need to get rid of this assumption or this danger as soon as possible and the purpose (of the visit) is to see what things are really like, talk, try to establish peaceful politics."

Georgia has said Russia's move to send more troops to Abkhazia risks sparking an all-out conflict.

Moscow says it is reinforcing numbers there in response to the risk of an attack by Georgia on Abkhazia, once a playground for the Soviet ruling elite.

Russian soldiers patrol land between Georgian and Abkhazian forces under the terms of a 1994 U.N.-organised ceasefire.

RUSSIAN TIES

Abkhazia was isolated for years after its 1992-3 war against Georgia, but it has close ties with Russia which has given its citizens passports and pensions. Many Russians holiday there.

Tension has risen further with reports by the Abkhazian leadership that its forces have shot down Georgian spy drones.

Georgia itself is at the centre of a tussle for influence between the United States and Russia over the Caucasus -- a volatile, mountainous region which hosts a major pipeline pumping oil from Asia to Europe.

Relations between the West and Russia are further strained by moves by Georgia's pro-Western leadership to join the U.S.-led NATO alliance.

EU foreign ministers will travel to Georgia from Lithuania, where they will try on Sunday to resolve a dispute blocking the launch of talks on a new EU cooperation pact with Moscow.

(Additional reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis in Vilnius and Adam Cox)

(Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

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