Russian permanent representative to NATO Dmitry Rogozin urged NATO countries to impose an embargo on arms supplies to Georgia and suspend high-level visits to that country.

He said most of the NATO countries are also members of the European Union and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and both of these organisations have “restrictions on arms supplies to states involved in armed conflicts”.

Rogozin believes that the armament of Georgia can create “such an absurd situation as confrontation between NATO and the EU”.

The European Union plans to send 200 observers to the buffer zone in Georgia from October 1, and 150 observers will be sent there by the OSCE in order to maintain peace in the region.

But if NATO countries arm Georgia again at the same time for a new act of aggression against South Ossetia and Abkhazia, this will create “an absurd situation where these two organisations will oppose each other”, he said.

He also urged NATO to revise its plans for a trip to Georgia on September 15-16 by a group of ambassadors led by NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in order to hold an away session of the NATO Council in Tbilisi.