EU Extends Monitoring Mission in Georgia for Two More Years: EU Council

The European Council announced Tuesday that the mandate of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM Georgia) has been extended until December 14, 2016.

MOSCOW, December 16 (Sputnik) — The EUMM was deployed in Georgia in September 2008 following the end of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict, also known as the five-day war.

"Through the EU Monitoring Mission, the EU is providing concrete support for peace and stability in the region," Federica Mogherini, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, was quoted as saying in the communique.

She further reassured that "the EU continues to firmly support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders."

After the termination of the missions of the United Nations and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in 2009, the EU has remained the sole entity responsible for monitoring the situation and aiding in the reduction of tensions in the region.

In August 2008, ongoing tensions and military clashes between Georgia and self-proclaimed breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia erupted in the Georgian-Ossetian war.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia broke away from Georgia following ethnically tinged wars in the early 1990s, just after the Soviet Union collapsed. Both of the self-proclaimed republics do not consider the presence of EUMM observers on their territories acceptable.