Georgia welcomes a decision reached on Monday to extend the EU monitoring mission in the country by a year, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"The Georgian side welcomes the decision of the council of the European Union from July 26, 2010 to extend the mandate of the European Union monitoring mission in Georgia [EUMM Georgia] until September 14, 2011," the statement said.

The EUMM Georgia, consisting of 225 international monitors, began operating two months after a short-lived war between Russia and Georgia over the former Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in August 2008. The mission's goal is to ensure that all sides abide by the ceasefire terms they agreed to in September 2008.

The UN and OSCE monitors in Georgia ended their missions last year, making the EU observers the only international presence in the country.

Russia blocks the EUMM's extension to the territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, whose independence it recognized shortly after the ceasefire.

Besides Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and the tiny island nation of Nauru are the only other three countries to have recognized the independence of the regions.

TBILISI, July 27 (RIA Novosti)