(BRUSSELS) - The EU on Tuesday launched an enquiry into the causes of the brief Georgia-Russia war, while holding out a diplomatic hand to Moscow by resuming strategic talks which were frozen after the August conflict.

European Union finance ministers, meeting in Brussels, formally endorsed the mission, which had already been approved at ambassadorial level, a spokesman for the EU's French presidency announced.

In a sign of the EU's wishes for this mission to be internationally recognised, it will be led by former UN special representative to Georgia Heidi Tagliavini, from non-EU Switzerland.

With a 1.6-million-euro (two-million-dollar) budget, she will chose around 10 "recognised experts" for her enquiry team, picked from the ranks of historians, military, jurists and rights experts, according to the text approved by the EU ministers.

The mission's official objective will be "to look into the origins and the unfolding of the Georgia conflict."

The EU investigation mission's "geographical and time limits will be sufficiently broad to determine the possible causes," the experts' text said.

Shortly after the probe mission was rubber stamped, the EU moved to improve ties with Russia, resuming key partnership talks three months after they were frozen in the wake of the Georgia conflict.

The European Commission's lead negotiator Eneko Landaburu met with Russia's EU ambassador Vladimir Chizhov in Brussels at the start of complex talks aimed at forging an overarching framework to manage the EU and Russia's diplomatic and commercial ties and ensure constant supplies of Russian oil and gas.

The strategic partnership talks had opened in July, with just one round of formal negotiations before they were frozen in September after the short war in Georgia.

It was not until November 10, just ahead of an EU-Russia summit, that the European Union took the decision to resume the talks, despite the dissenting voice of Lithuania.

No one knows how long the wide-ranging negotiations will take as they will include everything from justice to immigration, human rights and education.

"That depends on the will of both sides," Landaburu told AFP, saying that he expected to meet Chizhov every six to eight weeks.

The EU negotiator insisted that the resumption of the talks did not constitute a normalisation of relations with Moscow as major differences remain over Georgia, which has ambitions to join both the EU and NATO.

Georgia and Russia have traded accusations over who started the war, with Moscow saying Tbilisi launched an unprovoked assault on South Ossetia and Georgia saying it was defending Georgian villages from attacks by separatist forces.

Several European leaders, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, have publicly criticised the actions of the Georgian government of President Mikheil Saakashvili, while calling the Russian response "disproportionate"

The EU probe team will be free to look into any role played by the US administration in the affair.

Many analysts believe the Georgian government would not have acted as it did without tacit support from American officials.

The probe team will be counting on support from Russia, whose goodwill will be required to access Abkhazia and South Ossetia which Russia has recognised as independent.

"The Russians have said that they are in favour of this sort of enquiry. We hope that will translate into effective support for the work of this mission," a spokesman for the French EU presidency said.

While the EU has deployed 300 observers in Georgia, they are not being allowed into either South Ossetia or Abkhazia.

The enquiry mission could be extended beyond its July 31, 2009 deadline if it is deemed necessary.

After the enquiry is completed, Tagliavini will present the mission's report to Georgia and Russia as well as to EU nations and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

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