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HELSINKI — A trans-Atlantic security conference closed without a declaration of common goals Friday after it was unable to resolve disputes between Russia and the West.
Finland, which hosted the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, pushed for a statement that supported the group's role in monitoring a cease-fire between Russia and Georgia. The statement also would have called for strengthening the OSCE presence in areas affected by the countries' August war.
But Russia resisted pressure from the U.S. and other nations to allow international monitors into the breakaway province of South Ossetia, which has been controlled by Russia since the war.
"The differences on fundamental issues proved to be too wide to be bridged," Finland's Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said.
Negotiations also stumbled over a statement of support for the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which limits the number of conventional weapons across the continent, a Western diplomat said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to officially comment on the proceedings.
Russia suspended its participation in the 1990 treaty late last year, saying it became meaningless when nations in the former Soviet orbit joined NATO.
OSCE is made up of countries from Europe, Central Asia and North America. It is concerned particularly with conflict prevention, election observing, crisis management and rehabilitation of post-conflict areas.
The 56-nation group, which makes decisions by consensus, has not been able to issue a declaration on common political goals since 2002.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said "Russia has an obligation ... to let in international observers" that can monitor the situation in the separatist region.
He said reports by human rights groups of attacks on ethnic Georgians living in South Ossetia have caused concern because "no one knows what is happening."
Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili blamed the lack of progress on Moscow.
"I'm afraid they are quite reluctant for observers to be able to see what actually happened, how much destruction the policy of ethnic cleansing brought in this region," she said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the conference that Western arms shipments to Georgia were partly to blame for tension in the Caucasus region.
"Even after the grievous lessons learned back in August in some of the OSCE countries we have heard voices that would call for military assistance to Georgia," he said. "We believe this is something that must absolutely be discussed in a substantive manner in the forum itself."
Lavrov also presented Moscow's plan for a new security pact in Europe, which received a cool reception among most delegates and was rejected by the U.S.
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Associated Press writer Matti Huuhtanen contributed to this report.
