TBILISI, Georgia (AP): Georgians streamed to Sunday Mass a month after the start of a war with Russia and prayed for lasting peace while Russian forces remained dug in deep inside Georgian territory.

A day before European Union leaders are due in Russia and Georgia in an effort to ease the crisis, Moscow gave no sign it would accede to their demand to withdraw its troops to pre-conflict positions. Nor was there any letup in Russia's aggressive rhetoric.

At the Kashueti church on the main avenue in Tbilisi, Georgia's capital, Georgian Orthodox faithful lit candles and lined up to kiss the glass pane over an icon depicting Jesus Christ. Women in headscarves crossed themselves before they stepped out into the sunlight.

``We prayed for peace and for freedom,'' said Ia Kipshidze, 21, a student who stood with two friends outside the church. She said she and her friends want Russian forces to leave the country.

As in Russia, which is also predominantly Orthodox Christian, the Georgian Orthodox Church has experienced a major revival since the Soviet collapse. Churchgoers said they did come specifically to mark a month since the war broke out.

Russian tanks and troops entered South Ossetia after Georgian forces began an Aug. 7 offensive to gain control of the pro-Russian territory, which had de-facto independence for more than 15 years. The Russians quickly repelled them and drove further into Georgia.

Russia recognized South Ossetia and the separatist Black Sea province of Abkhazia as independent nations after the five days of war and has ringed the regions with checkpoints the West says violate the terms of a cease-fire brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Russia also has forces deeper in Georgia, including in the Black Sea port of Poti.

Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU presidency, is due in Moscow on Monday along with other top EU officials for a visit French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said was aimed at ensuring Russian implementation of the cease-fire plan. They are also expected to visit Tbilisi.

The EU expects Russia to withdraw its forces to their pre-conflict positions, Kouchner said.

But there has been no sign of Russian plans to do so.

At two positions on the outskirts of Poti, light tanks and armored personnel carriers stood Saturday behind a high earthen berms. A razor-wire fence blocked off one of the positions, a makeshift base by the shore, and an excavator dug new holes nearby.

In Moscow, Russia's leaders cranked up the assertive rhetoric.

President Dmitry Medvedev declared Saturday that ``Russia is a nation to be reckoned with'' following its war with Georgia.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who often taunts the West, insisted in an interview broadcast late Saturday that Russia was justified in its intervention in South Ossetia. He said there would be no cooling of ties with the West because the West depends on Russia's oil, gas and mineral wealth.

``We are convinced that the truth is on our side,'' he said in the interview with state-run TV.

Putin also likened the situation of South Ossetia to that of Srebrenica _ the Bosnian town that was the site of Europe's worst mass carnage since World War II.

At the Kashueti church, Ani Machitadze said Western support has helped Georgia in a time of crisis.

``I hope the situation will not worsen because the whole world and all of Europe is with us,'' she said.

But the West has been reluctant to provoke Moscow, and Kouchner said the EU did not plan to impose sanctions against Russia.