Brussels - The release of the results of an European Union inquiry into the conflict between Georgia and Russia last August has been delayed by two months, EU diplomats said in Brussels Monday. Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini, tasked in November to investigate the course of the conflict, had been scheduled to release the findings at the end of this month. The report would now become made available in September, the diplomats confirmed.
There was political consensus that sufficient time had to be allocated for the study of documents that became available recently, they said.
It has been reported that documents submitted by Moscow prove that Georgian, and not Russian, troops had been the first to advance on Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russia had on the night of August 8 reportedly responded to Georgian attack.
In earlier drafts of the report, Tagliavini's team attributes significant blame on the government of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili for the conflict, according to diplomats.
After the August war, Russia recognized both South Ossetia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia as independent states.
The postponement of the EU report also means that its publication will not coincide with the first anniversary of the conflict.
Saakashvili has come under increasing pressure in Georgia in recent months because of his authoritarian style.
Tagliavini is one of Switzerland's most experienced diplomats and an expert on the situation in the Caucasus.
