Vienna - The civilian Georgia mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is to be dissolved and some military monitors will have to leave, as Russia blocked a decision to extend the mission at an OSCE meeting in Vienna Monday. Out of the 56 OSCE members, all but Russia wanted to prolong the mission from January 1, several ambassadors said.
Russia's Ambassador Anvar Azimov told reporters his country was hoping for future agreement on a separate mission for Georgia's breakaway territories South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which Moscow recognizes as independent states.
The OSCE fields 28 military observers monitoring the situation after the fighting between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia. Of these, eight will have to leave from January 1, while the other's mandate runs on until February.
In addition, the organization that includes the United States and Russia operates a mission in Tbilisi with some 200 staff, which will have to be dissolved until a possible new mandate is decided on in early 2009, diplomats said.
