Russian soldiers on top of APC near Khurvaleti, 60 km northwest of Tbilisi, 22 Aug 2008U.N. Security Council member Russia is threatening to veto a resolution that would extend the U.N. Observer Mission in Georgia for two weeks.  Without the extension, the mission will end in a few hours.  

The two week extension would allow Security Council members time to make a decision on a long term plan for the mission.  Without the extension, the mission is set to expire at midnight New York time.

The stalemate is over the mission's name.  Russia wants all references to Georgia to be dropped. Several other council members insist on maintaining Georgia's territorial integrity by keeping its name in the mission title.  

Russia severed diplomatic ties with Georgia following a five-day military conflict last August. The issue was over Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters there is no way his country can accept the current draft resolution.  It contains a reference to the U.N. mission in Georgia.  He said his delegation prefers the compromise name suggested by the U.N. secretary-general.

"But the insistence on 1808 and also not acceptance even of the name proposed by the secretary-general - 'U.N. Stabilization Mission' - and insisting that it should continue to be called 'U.N. Mission in Georgia.'  And also with a straight face expecting that Abkhazia is going to be prepared to accept this kind of thing, and Russia as well, is really somewhat mind-boggling to me," said Vitaly Churkin. "And I cannot figure out what the intentions of our colleagues were as they were insisting on those things."

Churkin said the Security Council has three options.  Option One:  accept a Russian draft resolution that removes any reference to the word "Georgia" in exchange for a 30-day rollover while negotiations continue or Option Two:  cancel the vote and let the mission expire naturally.  Option Three is to push for a vote on the current draft, which Russia says it will veto.

But the result of either the second or third option would be the end of the mission, raising criticism by some countries that Russia's aim is to get rid of it, a charge Ambassador Churkin dismissed.

"The U.N. mission could continue to play a useful role in Abkhazia and Georgia," he said. "Had it not been the case, we would not have accepted two technical rollovers for 8 months; we would not have gone through this rather difficult negotiation.  There would be other ways for us to simply discontinue this process."

The U.N. mission operates on the boundary of Abkhazia and Georgia and in the Kodori Gorge.  It has no jurisdiction in South Ossetia.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has been warning for several months that the mission is in a precarious position and that both its security and operation depend on the goodwill of the parties involved.

Last August, Russian troops swept into Georgia when its military tried to retake the breakaway region of South Ossetia by force.  Georgia's President, Mikheil Saakashvili, said he acted after Russian tanks began moving into Georgian territory.  Moscow has since recognized the territory, and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, as independent states.  Nicaragua is the only other country to recognize their independence.