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MOSCOW : Russia indicated Saturday it would only participate in international talks on Georgia if representatives from the breakaway regions at the centre of the August hostilities were allowed to attend.
"The talks on security in the region will not have any results without the full participation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian news agencies.
"As for Russia, we will take part in meetings where these republics are represented as equals with all the rest," he said.
Talks on the Georgia conflict are to be held in Geneva on Wednesday under the auspices of the United Nations, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
According to a diplomat in Brussels close to the issue, the representatives from South Ossetia and Abkazia would participate in talks at the level of two working groups, but not at the plenary sessions.
Russia recognised the two separatist regions as independent states following a five-day war in August with Georgia. The Russian army entered South Ossetia after Georgian troops tried to regain control of the region from Moscow-backed separatists.
Following a ceasefire brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on behalf of the European Union, Russia has been withdrawing its forces from Georgia proper but not from the rebel regions where 7,600 troops are to remain.
Lavrov told Russian news agencies Saturday that Russian troops did not have to withdraw from the disputed district of Akhalgori, as the Georgians claim.
Akhalgori, northwest of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, was part of South Ossetia during the Soviet era but was under Georgian control up until the August conflict with Russia.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Friday the status of the disputed region would form part of next week's discussions in Geneva.
- AFP/vm
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