Mediators work to salvage Russia-Georgia talks
* Mediators struggle to salvage talks, regret walkout
* Russia pulls out of security talks with Georgia
* Russian foreign minister Lavrov says awaits UN report
* Georgia delegation says hopes talks resume on Tuesday
(Updates with State Department comment, paragraphs 5, 6)
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, May 18 (Reuters) - International mediators struggled to salvage the latest round of security talks between Russia and Georgia on Monday after Moscow's delegation walked out.
Delegations from Russia and the Moscow-backed rebel region of South Ossetia withdrew from the Geneva talks, citing the refusal of another Moscow-backed rebel region, Abkhazia, to attend, due to a delay in a U.N. report, both sides said.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated that Russia could rejoin the two-day talks on Tuesday if U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issues that report on its operations in the Abkhaz region. The U.N. chief is in Geneva.
"The co-chairs are working for the resumption of the discussions tomorrow morning, 19 May, as planned and call upon all participants to be present," the European Union, the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said in a joint statement voicing regret at the walkouts.
The United States said it was dismayed by the walkout and hopes all parties will be present when the talks reconvene on Tuesday.
"The fact that the walkout occurred before any substantive discussions began clearly signals a coordinated effort to undermine the Geneva talks," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in a statement.
Both the United States and Russia are eager to secure stability in the volatile south Caucasus region, long an area of Moscow's influence and now an important transit territory for Caspian gas and oil deliveries to the West.
It is the fifth session of closed-door talks between Russia and Georgia since September, following their brief but devastating war in August over South Ossetia.
The two sides agreed in February to work on a mechanism to prevent flare-ups around South Ossetia turning into full-scale clashes. However in recent weeks tension has mounted between Moscow and Tbilisi.
RUSSIA TAKING A "PAUSE"
Lavrov told journalists in Moscow that Russia had decided to "pause" its participation in the Geneva talks after the UN failed to produce a report on its operations in the rebel region by a May 15 deadline.
"Therefore we proposed taking a pause until tomorrow on the basis that, as our UN colleagues have promised, the General-Secretary's report will yet appear," Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.
Earlier, Interfax quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin as saying in Geneva: "To discuss serious questions about security without one of the parties would be a doomed exercise."
Sergi Kapanadze, deputy director of the department of international organizations at Georgia's foreign ministry, said the Russian delegation had also cited recent NATO military exercises in Georgia as a reason for the walkout.
"The South Ossetians said that because the Abkhaz did not attend, they were leaving the room because of solidarity. The Russian side agreed with the reasoning, but that was not their only reason," Kapanadze told Reuters in Geneva.
"They did it in an awkward and insulting manner, they didn't listen to the other participants to the end," he said. "The Georgian delegation remains here, hoping to be able to resume tomorrow as planned."
Abkhazia's separatist foreign minister, Sergei Shamba, told Reuters that Abkhazia would not take part because it had not yet received the draft report from Ban Ki-moon.
Russia and ally Nicaragua recognized Abkhazia and another rebel region, South Ossetia, as independent states last year after the war with Georgia, but the rest of the world still considers the provinces part of Georgia.
Both Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Tbilisi's rule during wars in the 1990s that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Moscow has pledged to deploy military bases in both regions.
* Russia pulls out of security talks with Georgia
* Russian foreign minister Lavrov says awaits UN report
* Georgia delegation says hopes talks resume on Tuesday
(Updates with State Department comment, paragraphs 5, 6)
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, May 18 (Reuters) - International mediators struggled to salvage the latest round of security talks between Russia and Georgia on Monday after Moscow's delegation walked out.
Delegations from Russia and the Moscow-backed rebel region of South Ossetia withdrew from the Geneva talks, citing the refusal of another Moscow-backed rebel region, Abkhazia, to attend, due to a delay in a U.N. report, both sides said.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated that Russia could rejoin the two-day talks on Tuesday if U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issues that report on its operations in the Abkhaz region. The U.N. chief is in Geneva.
"The co-chairs are working for the resumption of the discussions tomorrow morning, 19 May, as planned and call upon all participants to be present," the European Union, the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said in a joint statement voicing regret at the walkouts.
The United States said it was dismayed by the walkout and hopes all parties will be present when the talks reconvene on Tuesday.
"The fact that the walkout occurred before any substantive discussions began clearly signals a coordinated effort to undermine the Geneva talks," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in a statement.
Both the United States and Russia are eager to secure stability in the volatile south Caucasus region, long an area of Moscow's influence and now an important transit territory for Caspian gas and oil deliveries to the West.
It is the fifth session of closed-door talks between Russia and Georgia since September, following their brief but devastating war in August over South Ossetia.
The two sides agreed in February to work on a mechanism to prevent flare-ups around South Ossetia turning into full-scale clashes. However in recent weeks tension has mounted between Moscow and Tbilisi.
RUSSIA TAKING A "PAUSE"
Lavrov told journalists in Moscow that Russia had decided to "pause" its participation in the Geneva talks after the UN failed to produce a report on its operations in the rebel region by a May 15 deadline.
"Therefore we proposed taking a pause until tomorrow on the basis that, as our UN colleagues have promised, the General-Secretary's report will yet appear," Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying.
Earlier, Interfax quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin as saying in Geneva: "To discuss serious questions about security without one of the parties would be a doomed exercise."
Sergi Kapanadze, deputy director of the department of international organizations at Georgia's foreign ministry, said the Russian delegation had also cited recent NATO military exercises in Georgia as a reason for the walkout.
"The South Ossetians said that because the Abkhaz did not attend, they were leaving the room because of solidarity. The Russian side agreed with the reasoning, but that was not their only reason," Kapanadze told Reuters in Geneva.
"They did it in an awkward and insulting manner, they didn't listen to the other participants to the end," he said. "The Georgian delegation remains here, hoping to be able to resume tomorrow as planned."
Abkhazia's separatist foreign minister, Sergei Shamba, told Reuters that Abkhazia would not take part because it had not yet received the draft report from Ban Ki-moon.
Russia and ally Nicaragua recognized Abkhazia and another rebel region, South Ossetia, as independent states last year after the war with Georgia, but the rest of the world still considers the provinces part of Georgia.
Both Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Tbilisi's rule during wars in the 1990s that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. Moscow has pledged to deploy military bases in both regions.
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