NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Russia’s decision to keep its military presence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia “is very difficult to swallow.”

“If the Russians are staying in South Ossetia with so many forces, I do not consider this as a return to the status quo,” Scheffer said in an interview with the Financial Times  published on September 15. “The option of keeping Russian forces in South Ossetia and Abkhazia is not acceptable.”

The August 12 six-point ceasefire plan agreed by the Russian and French presidents says that “Russian armed forces will be pulled back on the line, preceding the start of hostilities.” Although the follow up agreement between the Russian and French presidents signed on September 8, does not directly say that troops should be pulled out to pre-war positions, the document, however, makes a reference to the August 12 accord, saying that the sides reaffirm their commitment to the terms of the August 12 accord.

Before hostilities began, according to official Russian information, Moscow had up to 1,000 servicemen in South Ossetia, as peacekeepers, and about 2,500 in Abkhazia. Russia, however, said it would keep a total of 7,600 troops in both regions.

Russia insists that the reality has changed since August 12 as Moscow has already recognized the two breakaway region’s independence since then. Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said after talks with Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh in Sokhumi on September 14 that Russian troops were deployed in Abkhazia and South Ossetia upon the request of the two “republics.”

“And the status of these forces will be legally reinforced in the nearest future when we sign an agreement on cooperation and friendship [with Abkhazia and South Ossetia],” Lavrov said.

In the interview with the Financial Times, Scheffer signaled that NATO would stand by its decision to suspend regular meetings of ambassadors from the alliance and Russia as long as Russian troops remained in the two breakaway regions.

“A speedy revival of the NATO-Russia Council… will not be easy, I think,” he said.

Scheffer, accompanied by ambassadors from the 26 NATO member-states, will arrive in Georgia on September 15 for a two-day visit to hold a North Atlantic Council (NAC) session in Tbilisi. An inaugural session of the NATO-Georgia Commission will also be held during the visit.