EU observers begin patrol of Georgian territory

EUROPEAN Union monitors, including four Irish personnel, began patrolling Georgian territory yesterday under a France- brokered peace deal, and Russian troops allowed some monitors into a buffer zone around South Ossetia, despite insisting earlier they would be blocked.

A Russian statement on Tuesday saying monitors would not be allowed on Georgian territory around the separatist region of South Ossetia had raised concern that Moscow was stalling on withdrawing its troops from Georgia as it promised to do after its August war with Georgia.

But when EU observers arrived yesterday at Russian checkpoints near the Georgian villages of Karaleti and Kvenatkotsa, at the perimeter of Russia’s so-called “security zone” on Georgian territory, Russians quickly let them move into the area.