The EU will dispatch a mission to Georgia to observe the demilitarization on buffer zones around the disputed territories.

The European Union announced that on Wednesday at least 200 observers with specific areas of expertise will be deployed to Georgia. The aim is to ensure Georgia and Russia comply with the EU-brokered peace plan, which followed armed conflict between the two nations in August.

"It is a mission that is going to be difficult, the success of which is not absolutely certain," said the head of the EU mission, German diplomat Hansjoerg Haber, on Saturday.

The EU observers will not be armed but will have safety equipment including bullet-proof vests and armored cars painted blue and marked with the EU flag.

Since the end of hostilities, Russian troops have remained on Georgian territory in a buffer zone outside the independence-seeking states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia which the Kremlin has officially recognized as independent states.

Deputy Head of the EU mission, Gilles Janvier, has held talks with Russia's military to coordinate the deployment of European monitors with the Russian withdrawal and the return of Georgian police to the area.

According to the EU-brokered peace plan, Moscow is due to withdraw its troops from the buffer zones by October 10.

An EU diplomat close to the mission said, "The observers will observe the retreat of Russian forces and will be in permanent contact with the Georgian police."

The announcement comes amid Russian calls for a new Europe-wide security treaty based on the legal framework of the UN charter.

In his address to the UN General Assembly on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, criticized the current security system in Europe calling for a more 'reliable' and 'collective' one.

A Georgian offensive against the independence-seeking region of South Ossetia prompted Russia to attack Georgia in August. Georgia accused Russia of ethnic cleansing, while Russia declared that it was protecting the lives of civilians in South Ossetia who were under Georgian attack.

Russian troops have been based in South Ossetia under the terms of a 1994 UN Security Council resolution to secure peace in the region, where 80 percent of the population has Russian citizenship.

AO/CW/WY - PRESSTV