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FM: Russian troops to stay in Abkhazia, South Ossetia

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-09-09 20:17

MOSCOW - Russian troops will stay in Abkhazia and South Ossetia for a long time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov makes a statement on the results of the talks between Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy in Moscow, September 9, 2008. [Agencies]

"Russian troops will be there for a long time. It is absolutely necessary in the foreseeable future in order to prevent relapses of aggressive actions," Lavrov told a press conference in Moscow.

Related readings:  Russia welcomes Nicaragua's recognition of South Ossetia, Abkhazia  Medvedev, Sarkozy to discuss S. Ossetia in Moscow  Possible EU steps in the South Ossetia crisis  Putin says Russia acts 'correctly' in S. Ossetia

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy agreed on Monday to withdraw Russian troops from buffer zone near South Ossetia and a Black Sea port and deploy international forces there, but not from the two Georgian breakaway regions.

Georgian troops launched a sudden attack against South Ossetia on early August 8 to reclaim control over the Caucasus region, but was driven out of there by Russian forces.

The military conflict was stopped on August 12 with a France-brokered ceasefire pact in which Moscow promised to pull out its troops.

Lavrov said that there will be "an agreement that will create an international legal base for the presence of Russian troops on the territories of the republics" in the next few days.

"This will be Russian troops rather than peacekeepers. Their number on the South Ossetian and Abkhaz territories will be enough to respond to possible relapses of aggression," he said.