Russia, Georgia to hold for security talks in Abkhazia (2nd Roundup)

Jul 1, 2009, 22:32 GMT

Geneva - Russia and Georgia agreed at talks Wednesday in Geneva to hold a security meeting later this month in the disputed region of Abkhazia.

The two countries, who went to war in August 2008 over the breakaway Georgian republic of South Ossetia, on Wednesday concluded their sixth round of ongoing negotiations and agreed to resume talks in the autumn.

Representatives from South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia's second breakaway region, also participated in the meetings.

The talks yielded a commitment to hold the first meeting of one of the so-called 'joint incident prevention and response mechanisms' in an area under Abkhaz control on July 14 in Gali.

Chairing the rounds of talks are the European Union, the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

They said the other mechanism for South Ossetia should meet soon as well, having sat together only twice since the system was created in February.

Matthew Bryza, head of the United States delegation to the negotiations, said that South Ossetia demanded Georgia recognize its independence before such a security meeting could convene.

The next round of the negotiations would take place on September 17 in Geneva.

Two of the chairs - the United Nations and the OSCE - have lost their mandates to operate missions in the region in recent days, following Russian vetoes in both organizations, leaving only the EU mission to continue monitoring work.

The OSCE mission's future was still under discussion in Vienna, where the organization is based.

Russian officials have tied the missions to a greater role for the de facto governments in the breakaway territories, including separate international observers in those regions that would cooperate with the authorities.

Moscow recognized the regions as independent states after the August 2008 war but has garnered little international support for their new status. Russia and Georgia have broken off direct diplomatic ties, which are now handled through Switzerland.

The Geneva talks have yielded few practical results. They are mainly aimed at reducing security incidents along the de facto border areas and solving humanitarian issues, including the welfare of refugee populations.

On the second front, the chairs announced that there had been an agreement to carry out a joint assessment of the rehabilitation needs of the water supply system in the area.

EU chair Pierre Morel admitted that the talks, as usual, had been 'difficult' at times.

The US had pushed for greater security cooperation, saying that reducing military tension was of 'particular importance' given Russia's ongoing military exercise.

Russia has enraged Georgia this week by conducting military exercises in the Caucasus with some 8,500 troops, the largest such operation since the war.

Grigory Karasin, a Russian deputy foreign minister, told reporters after the talks that he expected that the 'summer should be quiet' in the region.