An EU mission to monitor the ceasefire in Georgia is fully deployed and has met Russian forces to discuss their pullback from positions deep inside the Caucasus country, a senior EU official said today.
Under a pullback deal brokered by France after last month's Russia-Georgia war, Russian forces are due to withdraw from two 'security zones' adjacent to breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia by October 10th.
The official said more than 300 European Union staff - civilian monitors and support - were on the ground, and had begun deploying to field offices in western and central Georgia.
"They will be ready to begin the mission in the early hours of October 1st," the official told Reuters. "At a technical level we met with the Russians over the weekend," he said.
Russia sent forces over its southern border in early August to repel an offensive by ex-Soviet Georgia, a staunch US ally, to retake South Ossetia from pro-Moscow separatists.
Russia routed the Georgian army and pushed deep into undisputed Georgian territory, drawing condemnation from the West but no sanctions.
Under the pullback deal, the EU agreed to provide at least 200 observers to monitor the ceasefire.
The 56-nation Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe also pledged to send 100 monitors after the conflict. Twenty have arrived, but deployment of the other 80 has been blocked by disagreement with Russia over their access to South Ossetia.
Russia insists the monitors will not be able to operate inside the rebel regions, which Moscow has since recognised as independent states. Russia plans to keep around 7,600 soldiers in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Reuters