DW-World.de
Deutsche Welle

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says a group of six former-Soviet states known as the Collective Security Treaty Organisation have expressed support for his country's military action in Georgia last month. Medvedev was speaking at a press conference following the talks held in Moscow. He said the CSTO leaders were unanimous in their view that Georgia had provoked the five-day long conflict by using military force to try to re-establish control of the break-away region of South Ossetia. Meanwhile, European Union foreign ministers are meeting in the French city of Avignon to discuss plans to launch a 200-strong civilian monitoring mission in Georgia. At an EU summit on Monday, European leaders froze talks on a new strategic pact with Moscow and said they would review all ties following Russia's refusal to pull its troops out of Georgia. However they stopped short of imposing sanctions on Moscow.