(LJUBLJANA) - Slovenia's foreign minister said Friday that slapping Russia with sanctions as punishment for its military intervention into Georgia earlier this month would be "counterproductive".

"We are not particularly inclined to possible sanctions against Russia," Dimitrij Rupel said ahead of Monday's emergency summit of EU leaders in Brussels to discuss the Russia-Georgia crisis.

His comments followed the disclosure by a source in the French president's office that the European Union would not call for sanctions against Russia when it meets next week.

"We are still in a phase of dialogue with Moscow, not in a phase of sanctions," said the source in Paris, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, adding that "the time for sanctions has not yet come."

Rupel, certainly, was unequivocal in this regard.

"Some in the EU would like confrontation with Russia.... I believe such confrontations would be counterproductive, pointless," he said.

He added that he was also against ending talks with Moscow on a new framework for Russia-EU ties that began last month but which some were considering scrapping as part of possible sanctions measures.

"I, personally, do not like such an idea," said Rupel, whose country held the EU's rotating presidency before France.

By talking to Russia, the EU could make clear "that moves such as we've seen in recent days are unacceptable and have no place in international relations," he said.

Russia has been widely condemned by Western countries this week for recognising Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states, further ratcheting up the tensions over Georgia's breakaway regions.

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