Diplomat: Talks with Russia on monitors collapse

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Talks with Russia on sending additional international monitors to keep tabs on South Ossetia and Abkhazia collapsed Friday, a senior Western diplomat said, warning that Moscow's "hard-line" stance had thrown into question its pledge to withdraw troops. The official, who has been intimately involved in three weeks of negotiations, accused Russia of stalling for time in an effort to keep observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe out of the two breakaway regions. "It has become clear that Russia doesn't want any agreement. I think they're afraid of what the observers will see," the diplomat told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the talks. "The talks have collapsed and there are no further discussions under way," he said. The Vienna-based OSCE, Europe's largest security organization, now has a total of 28 monitors in Georgia. It has been trying to boost that presence to 100 in the aftermath of Russia's invasion last month, which came after Georgia attacked separatist South Ossetia.