London/Moscow - The European Union, due Monday to hold an emergency meeting on events in Georgia, should make a "root and branch" review of its relations with Russia, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a newspaper article published Sunday.

His remarks came amid further pre-summit diplomatic moves which included contact between German and Polish leaders, and a dismissal by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of accusations against Russia.

Writing in The Observer, Brown said Moscow's "hostile action towards Georgia" raised two urgent questions: How best to stabilise Georgia now, "and how to make it clear to Russia that its unilateral approach is dangerous and unacceptable."

Brown said that in a telephone talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday, "I told him to expect a determined European response."

Brown said his message to Russia was simple: "If you want to be welcome at the top table of organisations such as the G8, OECD and WTO, you must accept that with rights come responsibilities."

The EU summit "should review - root and branch - our relationship with Russia. We should continue to strengthen the transatlantic relationship and may need to meet more regularly as the G7, "Brown said.

"We are also reflecting on the NATO response. We must re-evaluate the alliance's relationship with Russia, and intensify our support to Georgia and others who may face Russian aggression."

Speaking in Vladivostok, Putin Sunday insisted that "the truth is on our side - we are acting within international law."

Interviewed by the Vesti television channel, Putin said: "Emotions are running high, and we cannot ascertain any practical step that would indicate any cooling down."

In Warsaw, Poland's PAP news agency reported that President Lech Kaczynski and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had a half-hour telephone discussion Sunday in which they backed implementation of the six-point EU agreement brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

This includes the immediate removal of Russian checkpoints on Georgian territory, pullback of Russian forces to pre-conflict positionsand international discussions on the modalities of security and stability of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Medvedev said Saturday that he stressed in his telephone talk with Brown that Moscow wants a "constructive dialogue" with the European Union irrespective of the Georgia conflict.

Russia welcomed the deployment of Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observers in the conflict regions of Georgia, Interfax news agency quoted him as telling Brown.

He also renewed Russian accusations that the Georgian leadership under President Mikheil Saakashvili was responsible for the southern Caucasus conflict.

It was "aggression" from Tbilisi towards its separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhasia that had made it impossible for these regions to live in peace within Georgia.