MOSCOW, June 15 (RIA Novosti) - Russia urges the UN Security Council to extend the UN monitoring mission on the border between Georgia and Abkhazia, the Foreign Ministry said ahead of the expiry of its mandate on Monday evening.
Russia and the other Security Council members continue to disagree on the wording of a resolution to extend the mission.
"Russia once again urges its colleagues in the UN Security Council to review their inertial and politicized positions, which ignore the real interests of people in the Caucasus and jeopardize stability in the region," the ministry said in a statement.
If the mission is not extended, "the responsibility for ending the UN mission will rest with our partners," the statement said.
On February 13, the UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution to extend the mandate for its observer mission in Georgia and Abkhazia by four months.
The UN mission in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone - still formally known as the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) - was deployed in 1993 to oversee a ceasefire following a post-Soviet conflict that resulted in Abkhazia gaining de facto independence.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia after the five-day war with Georgia over the latter, which was attacked by Tbilisi in an attempt to bring it back under central control. Most residents of both Abkhazia and South Ossetia had held Russian citizenship for several years.
Russia's decision was condemned by the United States and the EU. Nicaragua has so far been the only other country to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
