OSCE halts Moscow-blocked talks on Georgia mission

By Mark Heinrich

VIENNA (Reuters) - Europe's top security and human rights watchdog Thursday halted talks on keeping peace monitors in Georgia after Russia blocked a deployment plan, but it stood by the proposal and nudged Moscow to reconsider.

Russia sent in troops to crush Georgia's move to retake its separatist South Ossetia region in a war last August, then rejected an extension of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's 16-year-old monitoring mission in the former Soviet republic when it expired on December 31. The military and civilian monitors face a June 30 deadline to pull out.

Wednesday, Russia barred a revised monitoring proposal from OSCE chairman Greece by insisting on language driving home its view of South Ossetia as an "independent" state -- rejected by Georgia and not endorsed elsewhere in the 56-nation group.

U.S. and European Union officials regard an OSCE presence in Georgia as crucial to preventing further fighting between separatist and Georgian forces and mistreatment of civilians.

Greece's OSCE ambassador, Mara Marinaki, announced a suspension in five-month-old negotiations on a new OSCE presence in Georgia. But she said the current proposal remained on the table and she called for "strong political will" to accept it.

She made clear she would stick to an approach that omits mention of Georgia or South Ossetia and related political and geographic references -- skirting the hot-button issue of the separatist territory's status -- while stipulating free movement for monitors across the August cease-fire line.

"CRUCIAL" OSCE PRESENCE

"We need to review the results of our efforts to build the required consensus around the Greek proposal based on the 'status-neutral' formula that would allow the OSCE to continue its crucial work in Georgia," Marinaki said in a statement.