The FINANCIAL — French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to arrive in Moscow for talks with the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about the crisis in Georgia.
Aside from the need to clinch Russian co-operation for these plans, M. Sarkozy's biggest test will be to sway Mr Medvedev to pull back his soldiers to pre-conflict positions, instead of tinkering with the wording of the ceasefire deal, The Independent reports.
Moscow says there are several versions of the document floating around and that the Russian translation differs crucially from the Georgian version, signed in Tbilisi several days after it was rubber-stamped by the Kremlin.
The Independent announces, that European security officials have criticised M. Sarkozy for his haste and clumsiness in drafting the agreement, which they say is so vaguely worded that Russia can argue that it is fulfilling its obligations under the pact.
According to Ria Novosti, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the "amended" document signed by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili bears no relation to that signed by Russia. In particular, he said that plans for discussions on the regions' future status, included in the sixth point of the document, were removed from the amended text.
The French delegation also includes European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. The group will later travel to Tbilisi, Ria Novosti reports.
Meanwhile, Georgia has gone to the UN's highest court over what it claims are Russian human rights abuses, BBC reports.
Judges at the International Court of Justice 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.
According to BBC, Russian forces remain in South Ossetia and large parts of Georgian territory after it responded heavily to Georgian attempts last month to recapture the separatist region.
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