GEORGIA:EU monitors entered a Russian-controlled buffer zone around Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia for the first time yesterday in what they said was a smooth start to their peacekeeping operation.
The 200-plus EU monitors began deploying under a French-brokered ceasefire deal that should see Moscow pull troops back within 10 days from two buffer zones inside Georgia, occupied during a war between the two countries in August.
The Russian military and EU officials had said earlier there was still no agreement on full access to the zones. But yesterday at least two EU patrols entered the South Ossetia buffer zone at separate locations, passing Russian checkpoints.
One of the patrols, led by French civilian monitors, entered the zone in the village of Nabakhtevi, west of the town of Gori.
A smooth deployment is critical to the success of the peace deal and will test Russia's willingness to abide by its terms. The crisis over Georgia, an aspiring Nato member and key transit state for exports of Caspian Sea oil and gas, has gravely damaged Moscow's relations with Europe and the US.
After lengthy discussions with Russian commanders, a second patrol entered at Karaleti, an area where human rights groups say paramilitaries have been looting and attacking ethnic Georgian villages since the war, forcing thousands to flee.
A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the patrols "have been able to go wherever they planned to go". - (Reuters)