EU to consider symbolic action against Russia

EU foreign ministers today will consider symbolic action against Russia to show their displeasure at its use of force against Georgia, EU diplomats said yesterday.

It was not clear whether Moscow's friends in western Europe, notably France, Germany and Italy, would agree to any statement or measure critical of Russia.

The 27-member EU called for an immediate ceasefire and urged Russia to respect Georgia's territorial integrity after fighting erupted in South Ossetia, but avoided blaming either side.

Poland and the Baltic states, wary of a resurgent Russia using its muscle to dominate neighbours, have condemned what they call aggression against Georgia but others are loath to risk ties with one of the EU's most important energy suppliers.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Petras Vaitiekunas told Reuters ministers would discuss a range of measures including halting EU assistance, cancelling visa talks and reviewing negotiations on a new partnership agreement with Moscow.

"We want the EU to acknowledge the aggression by Russia," the minister from the former Soviet republic said.

"We have to discuss and revise our negotiations, because Russia's actions constitute a clear violation of international law and the United Nations charter, and such actions should have consequences," he said in a telephone interview.

EU diplomats said ministers would hear a report from French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who has been mediating in Georgia, and could also discuss the idea of sending unarmed EU monitors or peacekeepers to observe a ceasefire.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, travelled to Moscow yesterday to seek support for a ceasefire and a peace plan.

Mr Sarkozy said Russia and Georgia had agreed to a ceasefire but had not agreed to a peace deal after a meeting in Moscow with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

"We do not yet have peace deal, we have a provisional cessation of hostilities but this is significant progress," Mr Sarkozy said.

The diplomats noted the Group of Seven major powers had already taken one such step by holding telephone conferences on the situation in Georgia without involving Russia, the first time Moscow has been excluded from such meetings for a decade.

"That has been noticed in Moscow," one EU diplomat said.

Another possibility could be to withhold agreement for Russia to join the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based think-tank of industrialised states.

Ministers would first want to hear more details of what had been achieved by Mr Sarkozy, another diplomat said.