Russia in rare praise for EU Georgia mission

(MOSCOW) - Russia on Wednesday lauded the work of the EU monitoring mission in Georgia, in rare praise from Moscow for what is now the sole international presence around the country's conflict zones.

"The presence of the EU monitors... is an important stabilizing factor and we welcome it," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the state news channel Vesti 24.

The importance of the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) has grown in recent months after the withdrawal of observer missions of the United Nations and Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Both the UN and OSCE monitoring missions left after Russia opposed a renewal of their mandates.

Tensions have been rising in recent days between Russia and Georgia as they prepare to mark the one-year anniversary on August 7 of the outbreak of their five-day war over breakaway South Ossetia.

The 225 civilian EUMM observers patrol along the de-facto borders of both Georgia's pro-Moscow breakaway regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

On July 27, EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels agreed to extend the EU mission for another year, to September 14, 2010.

Lavrov said Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and his "masters of provocations" wanted to see the United States join the EU mission in a bid to inflame tensions with Russia.

He said this was just aimed at putting US observers side-by-side with the thousands of Russian soldiers who are stationed in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

"This is simply incorrect, as the EU mission is acting according to the (EU-brokered ceasefire) agreement" that brought an end to the August hostilities, he said.