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BRUSSELS: European leaders met Monday seeking a way to condemn Russia's conflict against Georgia as hundreds of thousands of people staged an anti-Russian rally in the Georgian capital.
EU heads of state started an emergency summit on the Georgia crisis with divisions between Eastern European nations and Britain which want a tough line against Moscow, while Germany and France lead a group opposed to any move which provokes the Kremlin.
Britain urged the suspension of negotiations on a successor to the current accord that set out EU-Russia relations. Talks on a new agreement are due this month.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote on the eve of the summit that there should be a "root and branch" review of EU relations with Moscow.
"It's vital we send a strong and united EU message today. We must be clear in our support for Georgia's territorial integrity and in our condemnation of Russia's action," his spokesman said Monday.
Poland said the 27-nation bloc should consider calling off an EU-Russia summit in October.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU must "speak clearly" over the crisis but insisted that the bloc "should not cut off dialogue" with Russia over the five day war.
The Kremlin ordered tanks and troops into Georgia last month to push back a Georgian offensive on August 7 to retake South Ossetia, a separatist region that broke away from Tbilisi in the early 1990s with Moscow's backing.
Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev upped the stakes last week by recognising the independence of South Ossetia and a second separatist region Abkhazia, drawing fierce criticism from the West.
Russian troops still hold positions in western Georgia after the five-day conflict, serving in what Moscow describes as a peacekeeping mission. Tbilisi calls them an occupation force.
In Tbilisi, Georgians staged what officials called the biggest protest in the country's history against the Russian action.
"Georgia is united as never before, there are one million people on the streets," President Mikheil Saakashvili told a huge crowd on Freedom Square in central Tbilisi that was awash with the red crosses of the national flag.
Simultaneous protests took place in several other towns against Russia's partial occupation of Georgia and the decision by Moscow to recognise the two separatist provinces.
Huge posters depicting graphic images of dead and injured from last month's fighting against Russia hung from buildings along the protest route.
Monday's summit was called by French President Nicolas Sarkozy so that the European Union could formulate a "clear and united message" over the conflict.
Talk of slapping sanctions on Russia has waned amid threats from Moscow of retaliatory measures.
EU leaders are expected to concentrate on aid for Georgia, ways to bolster its economy and easing visa restrictions for Georgians.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the bloc hoped to launch an observer mission to Georgia within weeks, although where they would be able to operate remained unclear.
He said an "exploratory mission" of around 40 people was already on the ground.
Russia indicated it would support an international police mission to Georgia to help maintain security around the country's breakaway regions.
"Such a presence could be deployed under a mandate of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) with the support of the European Union," foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told journalists.
Medvedev has been unrepentant, warning that Moscow was ready to retaliate against sanctions and that there was "no turning back" on his decision to recognise Georgia's rebel regions.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Monday against any attempts to break the close relationship between Russia and Germany and said it was Georgia not Russia that should be subject to an arms embargo.
"Today's European Union summit should reveal a lot. We expect a choice to be made that is based on the core interests of Europe," Lavrov said.
Meanwhile, President Mikheil Saakashvili has sought to portray the Georgian military assault on South Ossetia as a pre-emptive strike.
In an interview Monday he alleged that Russia had been meticulously planning its invasion.
"The invasion was very well-planned for several months and no one in the international community stopped them," Saakashvili told the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.
Many critics have said Georgia brought the August 8 incursion on itself, with Moscow insisting it sent in troops to push back a Georgian offensive to retake the rebel enclave.
- AFP/yt
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