Russia handed control of buffer zones adjacent to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the two Georgian breakaway republics recognized by Russia, over to EU and OSCE monitoring missions in Georgia on October 8, two days ahead of a deadline for Russian troops' withdrawal.
"OSCE observers and peacekeepers are failing to cope with the situation in the region, and I fear that a new flare-up is possible," said Sergei Mironov, the speaker of the Russian parliament's upper house.
He said Georgia is still "interested in destabilizing the situation" in the region, and that international monitors are turning a blind eye.
The Russian and French presidents, Dmitry Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy, agreed in September that Russia's full withdrawal from undisputed parts of Georgia must take place by October 10. EU monitoring teams were deployed in Georgia on October 1 in preparation for the handover.
The two republics broke away from Georgia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s amid armed conflicts that claimed thousands of lives. Russia recognized them as independent states on August 26.
