TBILISI, Georgia — France is pressing Russia to comply with ceasefire terms and withdraw its troops from the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Thursday.
France brokered a ceasefire between Georgia and Russia to end their five-day war in 2008, in which Russia crushed a Georgian assault on its breakaway region of South Ossetia.
"According to the accords that we signed, Russian troops should withdraw to positions held prior to the conflict and this has not been done, and we are continuing to pursue this effort," Kouchner told a news conference after meeting Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. "For us, the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia … are Georgian regions and territories and we want to work as much as possible and in the most productive way possible … so that the regions are again Georgian."
Kouchner's two-day visit followed a trip to Tbilisi by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who warned Georgia not to give Moscow any excuse to take aggressive actions and said diplomatic efforts to resolve the stand-off should be intensified.
Kouchner said France would support Georgia's aspirations to become an associate member of the European Union and said Russia would not be able to veto its membership.
"We will always help Georgia in its talks with the EU to become an associate member," Kouchner said. "Russia does not decide who should become an EU member."
Saakashvili met the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton on Thursday to open talks on associate membership.