Russia blocks EU monitors in Georgia conflict zone

Russian army leaders on Tuesday said they would not permit European Union observers to operate in a buffer zone in Georgia's renegade provinces Abkhazia and South Ossetia, despite an August promise seemingly allowing it.

Observers from an EU military mission taking up positions in the region to monitor a Russo-Georgian ceasefire agreement will have to remain in 'security zones' between the two countries' forces, and Russian forces will not allow the EU monitors free movement through Russia-controlled territory, the Interfax news agency reported citing a Russian army spokesman.

The decision threw a monkey wrench into a ceasefire brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy during August's Russo-Georgian war. EU observers according to the plan would monitor both sides' adherence to the agreement, in part, by keeping tabs on force levels in the region - an almost impossible task if not allowed into territory controlled by the Russian army.

All parties to the ceasefire agreement 'had agreed to this,' the Russian army official was reported to have claimed. More