By Frances Williams

Russia and Georgia on Tuesday pledged to reactivate a security response mechanism aimed at calming tensions after the two sides went to war last summer over Georgia’s attempt to reclaim the Russian-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia.

International mediators said talks in Geneva on security and humanitarian issues in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia’s other secessionist region, were back on track after Abkhazia refused to participate on Monday, and South Ossetia and Russian officials walked out.

A statement from the three joint chairs, representing the European Union, the United Nations and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the parties would hold a sixth round of talks on July 1. The first round took place last October.

The latest talks took place against an unpropitious backdrop. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last month signed agreements with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Moscow has unilaterally recognised as independent states, to defend their borders for five years.

And last week Russia blocked agreement at the OSCE on extending its 16-year-old peace monitoring mission in Georgia, which the US and EU regard as essential to help prevent further fighting between separatist and Georgian forces and mistreatment of civilians.

This followed the breakdown of discussions between Russia, Georgia and South Ossetia on establishing a security response mechanism agreed in principle at an earlier round of Geneva talks in February.

Matthew Bryza, US assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, who sits in on the Geneva talks, said on Tuesday that while Georgia and Russia had reaffirmed their willingness to push ahead with the response mechanism it was “not entirely clear” if Abkhazia and South Ossetia had done so.

He also expressed disappointment at the slow progress in getting humanitarian assistance through to those in need in the breakaway areas. “People are facing serious hardship,” he said.

The walkout on Monday was sparked by a row over a delayed UN report on its observer mission in Abkhazia, which was finally issued on Tuesday. The report’s draft version had referred to Abkhazia as part of Georgia. The final document skates around the status issue.

URL: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/abda9724-4494-11de-82d6-00144feabdc0.html