The European Union will resume partnership talks with Russia as early as October if Moscow withdraws its troops from the Georgian mainland completely, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Saturday after meeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort Sochi, according to DPA. Putin had promised that the remaining Russian troops would be withdrawn from Georgia, Fillon was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency after the talks, which also saw France and Russia agree on future cooperation in the area of space aviation. After Moscow's full withdrawal, there would be no more reason to halt the talks which the EU had put on hold after the war between Russia and Georgia over the separatist region of South Ossetia, said Fillon. France currently holds the rotating EU council presidency. Under the peace plan agreed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his French counterpart Nicholas Sarkozy, Moscow is to withdraw its troops by October 10 from the Georgian mainland bordering the separatist regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Instead, 200 EU observers are planned to maintain security in Georgia's mainland. Putin said the deployment of about 3,800 troops each in Abkhazia and South Ossetia was based on a friendship treaty with Russia. The Russian soldiers in these regions - recognized by Moscow as independent countries after the war - were to prevent the attack of Georgian troops. Speaking on the other issues, Putin said Russia and France had agreed to cooperate more closely in the field of space technology in future.
