The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Tbilisi

The European Union voiced support for Georgia on Monday amid tensions between Tbilisi and Moscow over Russian-backed separatists.

Separately, US President George W. Bush expressed "concern" at tensions over the separatist Georgian region of Abkhazia in a phone conversation with Russia's new President Dmitry Medvedev, the White House said. The message of European support was delivered by Slovenian Foreign Minister Dmitrij Rupel, whose country holds the EU presidency, as the separatists in Abkhazia claimed to have downed two more Georgian spy planes. "The European Union reiterates its support for Georgia's sovereignty and its territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders," said Rupel, who was accompanied in Tbilisi by the foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden.The ministers-three of them from east European states that broke from Moscow's rule in 1991 -- were holding talks with President Mikheil Saakashvili in Tbilisi on a worsening Georgian-Russian stand-off.