EU Monitors in Georgia Enter South Ossetia Buffer Zone

Moscow, Oct.1.— European civilian monitors entered the Georgian buffer zone outside the separatist enclave of South Ossetia on Wednesday, despite a warning from a Russian military official a day earlier that the monitors would not be allowed access to the buffer zone.
EU monitors in Mukhrani, Georgia
At the same time, Russia’s president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, said that Russia would fulfill its commitment to withdraw its troops to the boundaries of South Ossetia and the other breakaway enclave, Abkhazia, by Oct. 10.

“We will do everything on time,” he said at a news conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he traveled for talks with Spain’s prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.

Mr. Medvedev also said that there was no ideological basis for hostility between Russia and the West, and that he hoped to resume cooperative partnerships with NATO that were suspended in the aftermath of the war in Georgia.

“Today, we don’t have the kinds of ideological differences which could spark off a cold war or, for that matter, any other war,” he said, noting that whoever won the United States presidential elections in November would probably have to focus on the financial crisis.

“It requires a lot of attention,” he said. “It’s much simpler to analyze international questions than to make the necessary economic decisions on time.”

Of NATO, he said that “the cooperation is no less important for them than for us.”

“Ultimately,” he said, “everything will be restored in full.”

Russian frustration with NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe, which includes discussing possible membership for Georgia and Ukraine, has contributed to soured relations with the West ...

[ Full text ]