EU leaders debate Russia ties as Georgians stage giant rally

      BRUSSELS (AFP) — EU leaders warned Monday that relations with Russia are at a "crossroads" because of the Georgia conflict, as hundreds of thousands of people staged an anti-Russian rally in the Georgian capital.

      European heads of state and government went into an emergency summit on the Georgia crisis divided -- with eastern European nations and Britain pushing for a tough line against Moscow, and Germany and France leading nations opposed to any move that would provoke the Kremlin.

      A draft summit declaration made no mention of sanctions over the five-day Georgia war, saying only that the European Union will be "vigilant" with Russia and expects it "to act responsibly, in line with all its commitments."

      "The crisis in Georgia has placed relations between the EU and Russia at a crossroads," the draft stated, as EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said an EU observer mission could be deployed in Georgia within weeks.

      Britain urged the suspension of negotiations on a new accord on EU-Russia relations. Talks are due this month. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on the eve of the summit for a "root and branch" review of EU-Russia relations.

      Poland went further, saying the 27-nation bloc should consider calling off an EU-Russia summit in October.

      German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that while the EU must "speak clearly" over the crisis, the bloc "should not cut off dialogue" with Russia -- a major source of oil and gas for Europe.

      The Kremlin ordered tanks and troops into Georgia to push back a Georgian offensive on August 7 to retake South Ossetia, a separatist region that broke away from Tbilisi in the early 1990s with Moscow's backing.

      Russian President Dmitry Medvedev upped the stakes last week by recognising the independence of South Ossetia and a second separatist region Abkhazia, drawing fierce criticism from the West.

      Russian troops still hold positions in Georgia, serving in what Moscow describes as a peacekeeping mission. Tbilisi calls them an occupation force.

      Hundreds of thousands of Georgians poured into the capital Monday to take part in what officials called the biggest protest in the country's history against the Russian action.
"Georgia is united as never before, there are one million people on the streets," President Mikheil Saakashvili told a huge crowd on Freedom Square in the capital that was awash with the red crosses of the national flag.

      "Georgia will never stop resisting, Georgia will never surrender!" he added.
Huge posters depicting images of dead and injured from last month's fighting against Russia hung from buildings along the protest route.

      r Simultaneous protests took place in several other towns -- and in European capitals -- against Russia's partial occupation of Georgia and its recognition of the two separatist provinces.

      French President Nicolas Sarkozy convened the EU summit to formulate a "clear and united message" over the conflict. Talk of sanctions on Russia waned amid threats from Moscow of retaliatory measures.

      The EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the bloc hoped to launch an observer mission to Georgia within weeks -- although where they would be able to operate remained unclear.

      He said an "exploratory mission" of around 40 people now was on the ground.
Russia indicated it would support an international police mission to Georgia to help maintain security around the two breakaway regions.

      "Such a presence could be deployed under a mandate of the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) with the support of the European Union," foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko told journalists.

      Medvedev has been unrepentant, warning that Moscow was ready to retaliate against sanctions and that there was "no turning back" on his decision to recognise Georgia's rebel regions.

      Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned against any attempts to break the close relationship between Russia and Germany and said it was Georgia not Russia that should be subject to an arms embargo.

      "Today's European Union summit should reveal a lot. We expect a choice to be made that is based on the core interests of Europe," Lavrov said.

      Saakashvili portrayed the Georgian military assault on South Ossetia as a pre-emptive strike.
In an interview published Monday by the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter, he alleged that Russia had been meticulously planning its military action.

      "The invasion was very well-planned for several months and no one in the international community stopped them," Saakashvili said.
Many critics have said Georgia brought the incursion on itself by attacking South Ossetia.