BRUSSELS, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- NATO denied any differences with the European Union (EU) on the Georgia crisis on Wednesday and toned down its rhetoric against Russia.

    NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told Monday's Financial Times newspaper that the Sept. 8 agreement between Russia and the European Union (EU) was unacceptable as it allows heavy Russian military presence in Georgia's two breakaway regions-- Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

    De Hoop Scheffer said that the new arrangement was in direct contravention of an earlier six-point plan brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy which called for a return to the status quo before the conflict broke out.

    The Sept. 8 agreement was engineered by Sarkozy during his trip to Moscow, together with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and EU foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana.

    "If the Russians are staying in South Ossetia with so many forces, I do not consider this as a return to the status quo," de Hoop Scheffer said.

    "The option of keeping Russian forces in South Ossetia and Abkhazia is not acceptable," he said.

    NATO spokesman James Appathurai said on Wednesday that media reports about de Hoop Scheffer's criticism of EU's position was incorrect.

    "There is not a shimmer of light between NATO and the European Union on this issue," he told reporters.

    "He (De Hoop Scheffer) does have concerns about the implementation (of the six-point plan), in particular by the Russian Federation in returning to pre-Aug. 6 lines," he said.

    The Financial Times said on Monday de Hoop Scheffer signaled that NATO would stand by its decision to suspend the NATO-Russia Council as long as Russian troops remained in the two breakaway regions.

    The NATO spokesman, however, did not go that far on Wednesday.

    After whether Russia has to reverse its recognition of the two regions as independent states before NATO can normalize relations with Moscow, Appathurai said "I don't know what conditions will be required for the allies to reverse that decision. There is no explicit list."

    "Clearly, adherence to and full implementation of the spirit and letter of the six-point agreement and the subsequent Sept. 8 Sarkozy negotiated arrangement is a sine qua non of return back toward the normalization of relations," he added.

    But he stressed that NATO allies want a normal relationship with Russia. "They do not want a chill blowing across Europe, which will make things more difficult across a whole host of very important areas of cooperation."

    "Nobody benefits from a situation in which unnecessarily hot rhetoric creates a climate of instability for all of us," he said.

    NATO chose to strengthen relations with Georgia and froze contacts with Russia on ambassadorial level after the Georgia-Russia conflict.

    The decision-making North Atlantic Council, led by de Hoop Scheffer, paid a high-profile visit to Georgia on Monday and Tuesday, which was blasted by Moscow as anti-Russian.

    On Aug. 7 Georgia launched attack on South Ossetia, which has enjoyed de facto independence since 1992, in an attempt to retake control of the region. Russia sent troops into the region on the next day and defeated Georgian forces in a five-day war.

    The West accused Russia of bullying its small neighbor. But Moscow argued that its military operations were intended to protect civilians and enforce peace in the region. Russia's recognition of the two regions as independent states on Aug. 26 further enraged the West.