AVIGNON, France: European Union foreign ministers appealed to Moscow on Saturday to follow through on commitments to withdraw its forces from Georgia under a cease-fire plan.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will lead an EU diplomatic mission to the Kremlin on Monday to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about the crisis. The leaders will focus on ironing out disagreements over how far back Russian forces should be withdrawn from Georgian territory and to get agreement on deploying observers.

“We need to clarify the situation,” French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said. “On Monday, we must try our utmost to get the full application of the cease-fire plan.”

Kouchner hosted two-day talks of EU ministers in the southern French city of Avignon that began on Friday.

The discussions have been dominated by the Georgian crisis and how the EU can mediate along-term solution to the standoff over Georgia’s breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

French officials said the priority of Sarkozy’s visit to Moscow was to ensure Russian implementation of all parts of the cease-fire plan they signed three weeks ago after the five-day war. Kouchner said the EU expects Russia to withdraw its forces to their positions prior to the start of the war Aug 7.

“It will be necessary to control, observe and verify,” EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said. Several EU nations, including Poland, have warned they will push for EU sanctions against Russia if it fails to fully implement the cease-fire plan.

Ministers met in the historic papal palace in the centre of the city to brainstorm how the bloc should handle a resurgent Russian foreign policy to restore its influence over its neighbours.

The EU is set to offer Georgia and Ukraine closer ties to offset Russian ambitions to restore its influence there and also look to forge better links with Moldova and Azerbaijan.

EU officials said they were drafting to offer so-called EU partnerships with many ex-Soviet republics to counter Moscow’s influence. Such partnerships could include free trade pacts and visa-free travel to the EU.

“We need some kind of a financial package, a stability pact of sorts and that needs to be worked out,” Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said.

Kouchner insisted the aim of the EU was also to improve relations with Russia, despite current disagreements.

“Russia must remain a partner, it’s our neighbour, it’s a large country and there is no question to go back to a Cold War situation, that would be a big mistake,” Kouchner said.

Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused the West on Saturday of acting provocatively in and around the Black Sea, where the United States is using warships to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia.

“I wonder how they would feel if we now dispatched humanitarian assistance to the Caribbean, suffering from a hurricane, using our navy,” Medvedev said, adding that a whole fleet had been dispatched to deliver the aid.

The United States has used warships to ferry relief supplies to Georgia after the brief but intense war with Russia in early August, in part to send a signal to Moscow. Its biggest ship yet arrived on Friday.

The USS Mount Whitney dropped anchor off Georgia’s Russian-patrolled port of Poti. Nato has also rejected talk of a build up of its warships in the Black Sea, saying their recent presence in the region was part of routine exercises.

Russia has accused US warships of rearming Tbilisi’s defeated army, a charge dismissed as “ridiculous” by Washington. Medvedev was speaking at the meeting of his advisory state council, which regularly meets and is comprised of Russian regional governors.