UNITED NATIONS, June 16, SPA -- Russia has brought to an end the nearly 16-year-old U.N. observer mission that monitored acease-fire between Georgia and its breakaway Abkhaziaregion. Russia exercised its veto power in the U.N. SecurityCouncil _ toppling a Western plan to extend the life of theU.N. mission for another year, or even two more weeks, towork out a compromise. The vote late Monday was 10-1 withfour abstentions _ China, Vietnam, Libya and Uganda. The mission's mandate expired at 0400 GMT Tuesday,(midnight Monday in New York), requiring about 130 militaryobservers and more than a dozen police to leave. Both thename _ the U.N. Observer Mission in Georgia _ andreferences to Georgia's territorial sovereignty weresticking points, according to a report of The Associated Press. «It is understandable,» Russia's Foreign Ministry saidin a statement Monday, «that in the new political andlegal conditions most of the names and terms previouslyused in the old documents are inapplicable.» U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who had recommended keeping the mission, said it would cease operations Tuesday despite his «regrets» at the lack of agreement that prompted its abrupt demise. «This mission was helping defuse tension and deterfurther conflict,» British Foreign Secretary DavidMiliband said Tuesday. «Its withdrawal will affect theday-to-day lives of people living in conflict areas.»--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/675094