OSCE to discuss Georgia-Russia war

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Europe's main security and human rights body will this week discuss problems lingering since the war it failed to prevent between Russia and Georgia and consider calls by Moscow for a new European security pact.

Foreign ministers from the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation meet on Thursday and Friday in Helsinki, the city where its forerunner, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, was founded in 1975.

But some of the spirit of 1975 may be missing following the OSCE's failure in August to stop Moscow and Tbilisi -- both of which are members of the organization -- going to war over Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region.

"It was quite a dramatic development," OSCE spokesman Martin Nesirky said of the five-day war. "For that reason it clearly colors the conversations that will go on, but it doesn't necessarily poison the atmosphere."

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is not attending the meeting of the OSCE, which groups countries from Europe, North America and Central Asia. She will be in India.

Even if Rice were at the meeting, Finnish officials say it would have been difficult to secure firm U.S. commitments on any issue because President-elect Barack Obama does not take office until January 20.

FINLAND SEEKS JOINT DECLARATION

Finland, which hands over the OSCE's annual leadership to Greece next month, hopes to secure agreement on a joint political declaration at the summit -- something last achieved in 2002 in Portugal.

This could be hard to reach because of the impact the Georgia-Russia war.

"The odds are against us ... we have the crisis in Georgia, this sets the tone, so we shouldn't have high expectations," Aleksi Harkonen, head of the Finnish OSCE Chairmanship Task Force, said of the prospects of agreeing a joint declaration.

He said it may be better just to try to give a boost to talks under way between Russia and Georgia in Geneva on easing mutual tensions.

"I think that should be a realistic option -- we have worked hard, and others have worked hard, so we expect some political support from this meeting," Harkonen said.

Russia launched a counter-attack against Georgia in August after Tbilisi's forces tried to retake Moscow-backed South Ossetia, which has unilaterally declared independence from Georgia. Some political analysts say violence could flare again.

OSCE military monitors left South Ossetia during the war but Greece wants to ensure they can return.

"We will make every effort needed," Bakoyanni told Reuters. "There must be OSCE observers, we must be able to have a complete, realistic picture of what's really happening. If goodwill is expressed by all, we'll find a solution."

Russia criticised the OSCE for pulling out its observers, but Moscow has said the eight monitors who were there before the war are entitled to return. The OSCE says the monitors' return has been blocked.

The ministers will also discuss Russia's call for a new European security pact which France, which holds the European Union presidency, has said it is ready to discuss but which the United States has greeted with reluctance.

President Dmitry Medvedev has said Washington has forfeited its place at the heart of the world order and that the war with Georgia showed the security mechanism in Europe, based around NATO and the United States, needed to be replaced with a new European security pact. He wants a conference held to set it up.