MOSCOW, October 23 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia has not lived up to its commitment to return troops to their bases after the armed conflict over South Ossetia in August, Russia's foreign minister said on Thursday.

"Georgia has not fulfilled its obligations to redeploy troops to their permanent positions of deployment," Sergei Lavrov said.

He said Georgia occasionally sent commandos or other military units to areas adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway Georgian republic.

"We are worried that European Union monitors have so far been paying little attention to such matters," Lavrov said.

Russia's top diplomat also dismissed claims by the Georgian Foreign Ministry that the number of Russian troops stationed in South Ossetia had increased from 2,000 to 7,000.

"It is difficult to comment on statements by Georgian representatives because they contain little truth, and, unfortunately, this recent method of throwing out false information has been used regularly," Lavrov said.

He said Russia had deployed around 3,700 troops in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia under friendship and cooperation agreements with the two republics.

"This information is open, it has been available since the very start, and any speculation about these figures lie on the conscience of those who voice it," the foreign minister said.

Russia recognized the two breakaway republics as independent states on August 26, two weeks after a brief war with Georgia that began when Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia in a bid to bring it back under central control. So far, only Nicaragua has followed suit.