EU weighs monitor role to break Georgia stand-off

AVIGNON, France (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers will discuss on Friday the quick launch of a civilian monitoring mission in Georgia, with the aim of getting several hundred personnel on the ground as soon as possible.

The plan is vital to Western efforts to convince Russia to withdraw troops from its small ex-Soviet neighbor, whose army Moscow crushed last month after Tbilisi's abortive effort to win back the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia.

"The aim is for the EU mission to go as soon as it can," said one EU official before the two-day meeting in the southern French city of Avignon.

The official added that a decision to deploy an initial 200-plus personnel could be taken in just over a week after French President Nicolas Sarkozy returns from a trip to Moscow.

France brokered a deal to end the war over South Ossetia last month, but Moscow has since defied the West by leaving troops in "security zones" along the lines separating Georgia from South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another rebel region.

The EU argues that increasing the presence of international monitors would mean that Moscow could no longer justify keeping its troops in those areas, and so would accept international talks on a new security blueprint for the rebel regions.

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But officials acknowledge Russia's response is uncertain and that the success of the plan could hang on Sarkozy's trip on Monday to urge Moscow to pull troops back to pre-conflict lines.

"The timetable for this is ambitious as we want to have a decision on September 15," a second EU official said.

Russia's presence in Georgia and its decision to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have stretched ties with the West close to breaking, and underlined the limited leverage of the EU and United States in the stand-off.

EU leaders warned the Kremlin this week that the bloc would postpone talks due this month on a new EU-Russia partnership pact, but avoided tougher sanctions amid internal divisions on how to deal with Europe's largest energy supplier.

Moscow has shrugged off the EU warning over ties, but has since looked increasingly isolated as even regional allies have backed away from recognizing the breakaway Georgian enclaves.

In an apparently conciliatory signal, the Kremlin this week said it wanted an international police presence in the buffer zones, with an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mandate and including EU personnel.

Draft EU plans envisage a civilian presence that would monitor compliance with the French-brokered peace deal and ensure displaced people were able to return to their homes. Some policing tasks are also under discussion.

"The mission could evolve over time," said an EU official, noting that the aim was for it to have a country-wide mandate.

Ministers are also due in Avignon to prepare next Tuesday's EU-Ukraine summit in the Alpine town of Evian.

EU presidency officials insist the meeting will go ahead despite the collapse of pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko's coalition, and will look to deepen ties with Kiev with the offer of a so-called "association agreement".

(Additional reporting by Ingrid Melander, editing by Mark Trevelyan)