EU cautious as Georgia and Russia stoke conflict

Russia and Georgia risk violent conflict if both sides do not move to defuse growing tensions over the breakaway region of South Ossetia, the EU's special envoy to the Southern Caucasus has warned.

Peter Semneby appealed for restraint from both and said that the EU could step up its role in resolving the conflict.

Over the last few weeks both Russia and Georgia have conducted military manoeuvres in the vicinity of the breakaway republic, raising tensions.

The two sides have disagreed strongly over the role of Russian peacekeepers in place since 1992. Georgia accuses them of trying to occupy its territory rather than keep the peace.

On 18 July the Georgian parliament passed a resolution calling on the government to move towards expelling the Russians.

Russia reacted angrily, calling the move a provocative step. Defence Minister Sergey Ivanov has been quoted by the Russian media as saying the likelihood of an "unpleasant scenario" developing was "very, very high".

Semneby said: "The concern that the EU has, and that I have personally, is that every such incident that happens lowers the threshold for an escalation the next time something happens."

Since Georgia's velvet revolution in 2003 the government in Tbilisi has been increasingly frustrated that the EU has not acted decisively to resolve the conflict.

Speaking to European Voice during a visit to Brussels last week Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli said that EU peacekeepers were one "possibility" for the future.

Semneby cautioned against expecting the EU to put boots on the ground immediately.

"The Georgian side may have very ambitious objectives on the role that the EU could play. When it comes to an engagement on the ground, I do not think that in the present situation one should have exaggerated expectations," he said.

"Any EU engagement in a more hands-on way is dependent on the parties of the conflict reaching a degree of consensus; the EU is not going to get into a hostile environment."

Semneby said the EU would encourage Georgia and Russia to dispel what he described as "mistrust and even fear" between both sides.

"It is necessary to have a commitment that violence will not be used," he said.

Noghaideli denied accusations that the parliamentary resolution could spark a new conflict. "We do not want to be portrayed as starting a war or something like that.

"Our first option has always been that the peacekeepers will fulfil their mandate, and that they will stay there and continue to do their job. But they have made it very clear that they want to stay but they do not want to do their job."

Russian troops would have to leave Georgian territory, he said.

Russia and Georgia risk violent conflict if both sides do not move to defuse growing tensions over the breakaway region of South Ossetia, the EU's special envoy to the Southern Caucasus has warned.