(BRUSSELS) - The European Union will discuss easing tensions between Russia and Georgia at an upcoming summit in Siberia, the EU's Slovenian presidency said Wednesday.

"The EU will continue its efforts in view of a peaceful resolution and will strive to avoid any escalation and even calm tensions," said Slovenia State Secretary for European Affairs Janez Lenarcic.

"We want things to calm down, that's out priority," he told lawmakers at the European Parliament during a debate about Georgia.

"I think that we will have a chance to revisit this subject at the EU-Russia summit" at the end of June in Siberia, Lenarcic said.

Tensions between Russia and Georgia have soared since Moscow announced on April 16 that it would step up relations with Georgia's pro-Russian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Appealing for EU support in the conflict, a Georgian minister for the reintegration of the two, Temuri Yakobashivili, warned Tuesday that the possibility of war was "very close."

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