Sarkozy, Medvedev Discuss Georgia

French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, by phone over Georgia for about an hour, the Kremlin said in a press release posted on its website after midnight on Thursday.

“The Russian side stressed the need for Tbilisi to carry out point four of the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan, under which all Georgian troops should be returned to the places of their permanent location,” the Kremlin said.

“Additional agreements, which can provide a security regime in the future in the zones adjacent to the borders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, were also discussed.”

“During the conversation, the Russian president laid out in detail his opinion on a number of remarks and concerns expressed by the French president, as was reported by media sources, about the situation in the region. [The Russian president] emphasized Russia’s principled position on the need to urgently resolve the security issues of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” the Kremlin said.

President Sarkozy, who brokered the ceasefire accord between Tbilisi and Moscow, said on August 27 that the agreement “must be applied in full.”

“Military forces which have not yet withdrawn to the lines preceding the launch of hostilities must move without delay,” Reuters quoted Sarkozy as saying at a meeting with France’s top diplomats.

He also said that Russia’s decision to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia was aimed at changing Georgia’s borders “unilaterally, [and] is simply unacceptable.”