On August 30, a telephone conversation between Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Vice Chancellor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the FRG, took place at the German side’s initiative.

In the context of an upcoming European EU summit on September 1, issues relating to interaction between Russia and the European Union were examined, particularly in the light of the six principles agreed on August 12 by the Russian and French presidents for resolving the Georgian-South Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhaz conflicts. The possibility was discussed of involving EU representatives in the monitoring of compliance with the obligations not to resume military actions and provocations in the security zones around South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The sides agreed with the need to put an end to attempts to use the situation around Georgia since August 8 for fanning tensions in Europe by speculation about nonexistent threats to other countries in the post-Soviet space.

Certain practical issues in Russian-German relations also were touched upon, including a schedule of bilateral political contacts envisaging holding in St. Petersburg the 10th round of Interstate Consultations at the highest level involving government members of the two countries.

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