News

Wed, Oct 1st 2008, 13:28

The first European Union observers have entered the buffer zone around South Ossetia, as they begin monitoring a ceasefire between Georgia and Russia.

However, some monitoring teams were turned back by Russian troops for what were called "security reasons".

More than 200 observers are to oversee a Russian troop pullout from the buffer zones near South Ossetia and Georgia's other breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Russia has kept troops there since ousting Georgian forces in August.

Moscow says it will complete its troops pullout from the buffer zones by 10 October.

On Tuesday, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he was "optimistic that all the parties will comply" with a French-brokered peace plan between Moscow and Tbilisi.

Under the peace plan, the EU monitors were meant to have taken up position inside the buffer zones by 1 October.

'Softly-softly' approach

Unarmed observers from the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) entered the buffer zone at a Russian military checkpoint near the village of Kvenatkotsa, some 20km (12 miles) west of the Georgian town of Gori.