By RIA Novosti,
Brussels : The European Union (EU) foreign ministers have approved the proposal of an international probe into last month’s conflict in Georgia, the French foreign minister said.
“The council has endorsed the idea of holding an international independent investigation into the conflict in Georgia,” Bernard Kouchner told journalists Monday after the meeting in Brussels.
France currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency.
The EU foreign ministers had agreed in principle to launch the probe during an informal meeting in Avignon on Sep 5-6, which focused on EU relations with Russia in the backdrop fo the Georgia crisis.
Kouchner said the ministers had also approved the deployment of a monitoring mission to Georgia. The initial decision to deploy the mission was made during an emergency summit in Brussels on Sep 1.
The EU is to deploy at least 200 observers in the so-called buffer zone near South Ossetia and Abkhazia by Oct 1, within 10 days after which Russia has pledged to completely withdraw its remaining troops from undisputed parts of Georgia.
Some 7,600 Russian peacekeepers are to be stationed indefinitely in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which Moscow recognized as independent states on Aug 26, two weeks after it had concluded its military action against Georgia in response to an attack by Georgian forces on breakaway South Ossetia on Aug 8.
A majortiy of people in South Ossetia and Abkhazia have Russian citizenship since the early 2000s.
Western nations strongly criticized Russia for its “disproportionate” response to Georgia’s attack and its subsequent recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Only Nicaragua has also recognized the republics, although Belarus looks set to follow suit later this month.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s amid armed conflicts that took thousands of lives.