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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Sarkozy leads EU trio to Moscow | Sarkozy leads EU trio to Moscow |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to arrive in Moscow for talks with the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about the crisis in Georgia. | French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to arrive in Moscow for talks with the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about the crisis in Georgia. |
| He is joined by the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and the European Commission head, Jose Manuel Barroso. | He is joined by the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, and the European Commission head, Jose Manuel Barroso. |
| Mr Sarkozy is expected to press Russia to fully implement a peace plan he brokered to end the fighting. | Mr Sarkozy is expected to press Russia to fully implement a peace plan he brokered to end the fighting. |
| Meanwhile, Georgia has gone to the UN's highest court over what it claims are Russian human rights abuses. | Meanwhile, Georgia has gone to the UN's highest court over what it claims are Russian human rights abuses. |
| Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague are being asked to impose emergency measures to halt what Georgia says is a campaign of ethnic cleansing by Russia in the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. | |
| Russian forces remain in large parts of Georgian territory and South Ossetia after responding heavily to Georgian attempts last month to recapture the separatist region. | |
| The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in South Ossetia says every single Georgian village on the road south from the Russian border now lies in ruins. | |
| Homes, shops and schools have been looted and in one village Georgian homes have even been bulldozed. | |
| "The Georgians are beasts," one Ossetian woman said. "God forbid they ever come back". | |
| Russian troops are dug in with tanks and heavy artillery in Georgia itself, showing no sign of heeding European demands to withdraw, our correspondent adds. | |
| Difficult goals | Difficult goals |
| President Sarkozy wants Russian troops to pull back from their current positions in Georgia. | |
| PEACE PLAN No more use of forceStop all military actions for goodFree access to humanitarian aidGeorgian troops return to their places of permanent deploymentRussian troops to return to pre-conflict positionsRussian peacekeepers may take unspecified "additional security measures" until "an international body" arriveInternational talks about security in South Ossetia and Abkhazia class="" href="/1/hi/world/europe/7549736.stm">Q&A: Conflict in Georgia | |
| The European trio is also expected to press the Russians on arrangements for a strengthened international effort to monitor developments on the ground. | The European trio is also expected to press the Russians on arrangements for a strengthened international effort to monitor developments on the ground. |
| After talks in Moscow, the three senior European figures are due to go on to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, to meet President Mikhail Saakashvili. | |
| Russia says it is honouring the terms of a six-point plan agreed to end the conflict. | |
| However, European nations do not agree. | |
| Some European leaders have already warned that there can be "no business as usual" with Russia until the peace plan is fully implemented, and the European Union has suspended talks on a new partnership agreement with Moscow. | Some European leaders have already warned that there can be "no business as usual" with Russia until the peace plan is fully implemented, and the European Union has suspended talks on a new partnership agreement with Moscow. |
| However, with winter approaching, individual European countries continue to consume Russian oil and gas as usual. | However, with winter approaching, individual European countries continue to consume Russian oil and gas as usual. |
| BBC Diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says Russia's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states, and its continuing failure to implement the agreement to the letter, will have profound consequences for Russian relations with the EU. | BBC Diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says Russia's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states, and its continuing failure to implement the agreement to the letter, will have profound consequences for Russian relations with the EU. |
| It will also make it difficult for President Sarkozy to achieve his goals in Moscow, he says. | It will also make it difficult for President Sarkozy to achieve his goals in Moscow, he says. |
| Interim order | |
| During three days of hearing, the judges at the ICJ will hear accusations from Georgia that Russian forces have been conducting a campaign of murder, forced displacement and denial of humanitarian assistance against Georgians in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. | |
| If the court decides it has jurisdiction to hear the case, it can issue an interim protection order to help safeguard civilians. A final outcome on the case could take years. | |
| Russia has not responded directly to Georgian claims, but when Georgia began its military action in South Ossetia last month, Moscow accused it of committing crimes against humanity. |