Sarkozy bezocht Rusland voor akkoord terugtrekking troepen (en)

The President of the European Council travelled to the Russian Federation and Georgia on Monday 8 September for a working visit. He was accompanied by José Manuel Barroso i, the President of the European Commission and Javier Solana, the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Bernard Kouchner, the French Minister for Foreign and European Affairs.

The discussions focused mainly on the implementation of the plan of 12 August 2008. All the parties reiterated their commitment to implementing all the provisions of the Medvedev-Sarkozy six-point plan of 12 August 2008.

The EU delegation received a commitment from Dmitri Medvedev, the President of the Russian Federation, to completely withdraw Russian forces from the zones adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia to their positions before the start of the hostilities.

This withdrawal will be implemented within ten days after the deployment of at least 200 observers to these zones by the European Union. These observers should be deployed by 1 October 2008 at the latest. The agreement concluded on 8 September also provides for the withdrawal of all Russian forces from the five observation posts on the axis between Poti and Senaki within a maximum of seven days.

Wishing to directly inform the representatives of the European Parliament of the latest advances with regard to the situation in Georgia, the President of the European Council will meet with Hans-Gert Pöttering i, the President of the European Parliament, and the presidents of the Parliament’s political groups, for a working lunch on Wednesday 10 September 2008 at the Elysée Palace in Paris.

In addition, international talks would be held on 15 October 2008 in Geneva to discuss the modalities for security and stability in the region, the issue of refugees and displaced persons and any other issues, by mutual agreement between the parties.