(MOSCOW) - The EU is urging Russia to play a positive role in the search for a solution in the ongoing crisis between Georgia and the Russian-backed breakaway province of Abkhazia, France's ambassador in Moscow said Monday.

Abkhazia had announced the same day it was cutting all official contact with the government in Tbilisi, capping months of rising tension.

France last week took up the six-month rotating EU presidency, and its ambassador to Russia, Stanislas de Laboulaye used a press conference in Moscow to call on Russia to "play a positive role, an active role to allow direct dialogue between the parties."

"The EU recognises absolutely the indispensible role of Russia in this regard," he added.

Abkhazia's leader Sergei Bagapsh was quoted by Russia's Interfax news agency as saying Monday that Abkhazia would break all ties with Georgia, blaming it for a string of attacks in recent days.

"Abkhazia is ending all contacts with Georgia due to Tbilisi's policy of state terrorism," said Bagapsh, Abkhazia's de facto leader.

"Terrorist acts in Gagra, Sukhumi and Gali are links in the same chain and we cannot fail to react," Bagapsh said.

Abkhazia, backed by Russia, has enjoyed de facto independence since breaking away in a conflict after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, however its independence is not recognised by any country.

"The European Union has always taken a position of great neutrality on this extremely difficult subject by encouraging the parties to negotiate and also discouraging parties to resort to violence," said de Laboulaye.

The ambassador was responding to a question on the EU position regarding Abkhazia, where explosions killed four and left another twenty or so people injured in the space of one week.

Georgia has denied involvement in the blasts in Abkhazia, a small coastal territory on the Black Sea.

Tensions have risen since Russia in April sealed a formal cooperation accord with Abkhazia, partly inspired by Kosovo's independence declaration.

In a separate statement on Monday, Abkhazia's foreign affairs department urged G8 leaders meeting in Japan to prevent additional "terrorist attacks" by the Georgian authorities.

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