EU right to avoid sanctions: Moscow

Russia praised the European Union yesterday for taking a "responsible approach" to its conflict with Georgia by declining to impose sanctions on Moscow but said the EU had failed to understand its reasons for intervening.

Leaders from the 27 EU member states met in Brussels on Monday and threatened to postpone talks with Russia on a new partnership pact if Moscow did not withdraw its troops to pre-conflict positions in Georgia by mid-September.

But the leaders were unable to reach a consensus on the sanctions that some members, including the Baltic states, had been pushing for, highlighting the bloc's divisions on whether and how best to punish its largest energy supplier.