(LJUBLJANA) - Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the EU presidency, confirmed Friday that an EU mission would travel to Georgia next week to cool tensions over Abkhazia.

"We want to check what the real situation is and prevent an escalation of tensions. We want to prevent any unpleasent or dangerous thing from happening," Rupel, who will take part in the trip, told a news conference.

He declined to say who would join the mission, saying: "The composition (of the delegation) hasn't been determined yet. We'll do it over the next days."

Diplomatic sources in Brussels said Thursday that the foreign ministers of Slovenia, Sweden, Poland and Lithuania planned to visit Georgia on Monday, in the first attempt by senior EU officials to mediate between Tbilisi and Moscow.

A Swedish diplomat meanwhile confirmed that Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt would take part.

Tensions have been mounting mounted over the Georgian separatist region of Abkhazia, where Russia -- seen as backing the separatists -- has military forces deployed.

They reached new heights on Thursday as Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili warned of a risk of war with Russia.

Rupel said Friday: "We need to clear (the situation) up as soon as possible, remove that eventual danger, and try to contribute to a peaceful solution."

"We are in permanent talks with Russia. The European Union is like a big buffer organisation, an organisation that seeks reasonable solutions" to conflicts, he said.

He added that the delegation would voice no preferences for any of the candidates in parliamentary elections to be held in Georgia on May 21.

"The European Union has no intention of giving its support to one candidate or the other in the pre-election campaign," he said. "That would be wrong."

In Riga, Latvia's President Valdis Zatlers on Friday urged the international community to head off the spectre of conflict between Georgia and Russia over Abkhazia.

"The most important thing is to avert military action and violence," said Zatlers in a radio interview.

"It is necessary to expand international efforts. Maybe it will take peacekeeping forces from other countries, maybe negotiators for Abkhazia and Georgia, as was the case of Kosovo, to steer the process in a positive direction."

In a situation of escalating tension where a solution seems out of reach, the European Union must be more active, because by "leaving Georgia alone at this moment, we allow the conflict to heat up," he said.

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