RIA Novosti - NDHF Net

27/10/2008 - 20:52

NEW YORK, October 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has called UN Security Council consultations on the situation in the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zones, the UN said on Monday.

The meeting will take place in New York later on Monday to address Russia's concerns over an alleged concentration of Georgian troops in the so-called buffer zones adjacent to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the two Georgian breakaway republics recognized as independent states by Russia on August 26.

Russia handed control of the buffer zones over to EU and OSCE monitoring missions in Georgia on October 8, two days ahead of a deadline for Russian troops' withdrawal.

EU monitoring teams were deployed in Georgia on October 1 and are entrusted with the task of monitoring compliance with the ceasefire agreement on the part of Georgia.

Abkhazian leader Sergei Bagapsh called an emergency meeting of the separatist republic's security council on Sunday to discuss the latest developments on the de facto border with Georgia. He accused Tbilisi of launching a terrorist campaign against the rebel republic and of trying to annex its Gali District.

Bagapsh also criticized the EU monitors in buffer zones along the border for ignoring "armed" attacks by Georgia.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s amid armed conflicts that claimed thousands of lives.

In August, Russia fought a brief war with Georgia over South Ossetia after Georgian forces attacked the republic in an attempt to bring it back under central control.