EU to consider symbolic action against Russia
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers on Wednesday will consider symbolic action against Russia to show their displeasure at its use of force against Georgia, EU diplomats said on Tuesday.
It was not clear whether Moscow's friends in western Europe, notably France, Germany and Italy, would agree to any statement or measure critical of Russia.
The 27-member EU called for an immediate ceasefire and urged Russia to respect Georgia's territorial integrity after fighting erupted in South Ossetia, but avoided blaming either side.
Poland and the Baltic states, wary of a resurgent Russia using its muscle to dominate neighbors, have condemned what they call aggression against Georgia but others are loath to risk ties with one of the EU's most important energy suppliers.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Petras Vaitiekunas told Reuters ministers would discuss a range of measures including halting EU assistance, cancelling visa talks and reviewing negotiations on a new partnership agreement with Moscow.
"We want the EU to acknowledge the aggression by Russia," the minister from the former Soviet republic said.
"We have to discuss and revise our negotiations, because Russia's actions constitute a clear violation of international law and the United Nations charter, and such actions should have consequences," he said in a telephone interview.
FRENCH DIPLOMACY
EU diplomats said ministers would hear a report from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who has been mediating in Georgia, and could also discuss the idea of sending unarmed EU monitors or peacekeepers to observe a ceasefire.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, traveled to Moscow on Tuesday to seek support for a ceasefire and a peace plan. He was due to have talks in Georgia later in the day.
The diplomats noted the Group of Seven major powers had already taken one such step by holding telephone conferences on the situation in Georgia without involving Russia, the first time Moscow has been excluded from such meetings for a decade.
"That has been noticed in Moscow," one EU diplomat said.
Another possibility could be to withhold agreement for Russia to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based think-tank of industrialized states.
Ministers would first want to hear more details of what had been achieved by Sarkozy, another diplomat said.
"Central and Eastern European countries might like to take the opportunity to take a swipe at the Russians as one would expect," the diplomat said. "They may put these things forward, but I would not necessarily say that's going to be the outcome."
Two other EU foreign ministers have been involved in mediation efforts -- Finland's Alexander Stubb on behalf of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Sweden's Carl Bildt for the Council of Europe.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana spoke on Tuesday to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. He welcomed the Russian leader's order to end fighting and expressed the EU's readiness to contribute to a solution to the crisis, a spokeswoman said.
While some EU countries have called for European peacekeepers or monitors for Georgia's two rebel regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, there was no indication Russia, which has the upper hand militarily, would accept such a move.
Sweden's Bildt said in a blog written from Tbilisi that Russia's goal "appears to be to damage Georgia militarily and economically to such an extent that its capacity to resist politically, is severely weakened".
"After that, I expect, political conditions (for an end to the conflict) will be dictated," he wrote.
(Additional reporting by Darren Ennis in Brussels and Simon Johnson in Stockholm; Editing by David Brunnstrom and Andrew Dobbie)
