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Damage assessment : NATO experts visit Georgia today

* German chancellor hopes Sarkozy will help solve Russia crisis

TBILISI: A NATO delegation will travel to Georgia on Monday to evaluate damage to military infrastructure following a five-day war between Moscow and Tbilisi last month, diplomatic officials told AFP.

“A NATO mission is expected here tomorrow,” a European diplomatic official in Tbilisi told AFP on condition of anonymity. “It’s a mission to assess the military damage,” said a second diplomatic official. A NATO official confirmed to AFP the expected arrival of the delegation. NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is due to travel to Georgia on September 15-16 along with representatives of all 26 member states for talks with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to discuss NATO assistance.

At an emergency meeting last month, NATO foreign ministers said it was impossible to continue “business as usual” with Russia because of the conflict, bringing a furious response from Russian officials. The ministers agreed to set up a NATO-Georgia commission and De Hoop Scheffer said 15 experts would be sent to assess the extent of the damage in Georgia, stressing the need for aid for refugees.

Crisis resolution: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is optimistic that French President Nicolas Sarkozy will on Monday make progress in his discussions with Russia about a peace plan with Georgia. “I have some hope that the French president will make a bit of progress in clearing up the six-point plan when he visits Moscow in his capacity as president of the EU,” Merkel told German radio.

Sarkozy is due to go to Moscow to verify whether Russia has fully adhered to the plan, brokered by France, to resolve the Russia-Georgia conflict. Merkel said she was heartened by Russia’s response to an agreement by EU leaders last week which avoided imposing sanctions on Moscow over its conflict with Georgia. The EU leaders did, however, threaten to delay talks with Russia on a new partnership pact if Moscow did not pull out its troops to pre-conflict positions from Georgia by mid-September.

“I see grounds for hope, as the (Russian) prime minister and the president welcomed the EU’s decisions,” Merkel said in the interview on Deutschlandfunk to be broadcast on Sunday. She reiterated her view that Russia had reacted disproportionately to Georgia’s actions in South Ossetia and that Russia’s recognition as independent states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia did not comply with international law.

“That will be fodder for future meetings but it doesn’t mean we cannot continue to work together in other areas,” she said. “We in the EU want to further contacts (with Russia). But it cannot be that the six-point plan which we have developed together is not fulfilled.” agencies

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