Head of EU Monitors Meets Russian Deputy FM

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin met on September 28 in Moscow with Hansjörg Haber, head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia, and expressed Russia’s readiness for “deepening cooperation” with the European monitors on the ground, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
 
“The Russian side expressed in overall satisfaction with the activities of EUMM on the territories adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia and expressed readiness for deepening cooperation and coordination of actions with EU monitors, first of all in frames of joint mechanisms. It was noted that as a result of joint efforts it was possible to maintain calm situation in those areas. But threat of destabilization from the Georgian side has not yet been removed. Building of fortifications and movement of military continues in immediate vicinity of borders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Haber said last week that Georgia was respecting its commitments undertaken under the memorandum of understanding between EUMM and the Defense Ministry on transparency of troops’ movement in the areas adjacent to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

“Minor infractions are usually corrected very quickly. The new Minister of Defence has already assured us that our working relationship will remain unchanged and that Georgia will not react to what it would consider provocations,” he said.

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