MOSCOW (AFP) - Germany got mixed feedback Friday on a plan to resolve escalating tensions between Georgia and Russian-backed separatists in the breakaway region of Abkhazia.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier floated the proposals during a two-day stint of shuttle diplomacy in Georgia, Abkhazia and Russia aimed at defusing a potentially explosive conflict in a volatile part of the world.

All three parties found elements to criticise, with the Abkhaz leader Sergei Bagapsh rejecting the plan outright and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili dismissing key elements including a non-aggression pact.

But after initial criticism, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov appeared to warm to aspects of the three-stage roadmap, saying it offered a potential basis to break the deadlock.

After a meeting with Steinmeier, Lavrov said Berlin's initiative was "extremely helpful for looking for compromises and a way out of the crisis."

"We believe that the logic of your plan is absolutely the right one," Lavrov told Steinmeier at a joint news conference.

Germany chairs the so-called UN Group of Friends of the Secretary General seeking to reverse a sharp rise in tensions in a long-simmering conflict between Georgia and the Russian-backed breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Separatist leaders have blamed Georgia for a recent series of bombings accompanied by growing friction between Moscow and Tbilisi.

The first step of Berlin's plan would entail an end to violence, confidence-building measures over the next year that could lead to the resumption of direct talks between Georgia and Abkhazia, and the return of about 250,000 Georgian refugees to Abkhazia.

The second stage would involve developing joint reconstruction projects while the third and most difficult step would determine Abkhazia's future status.

Steinmeier acknowledged the three sides were still far apart on key issues but said all had a responsibility to step back from the brink.

"In light of the escalation in recent weeks and months that has also claimed victims, we all have the duty to seek ways out of the spiral of violence," he said.

Lavrov had earlier slammed the German proposals over the return of refugees as "unrealistic". But his tone changed markedly after his meeting with Steinmeier.

"We agreed today that the work in the Group of Friends should not only continue but be intensified.

"Of course the conflicting parties must come together for talks and make these steps but we are convinced that the Group of Friends can play a very important role."

Lavrov called the plan "comprehensive" and touched on "essential" points such as the economic renewal of the battle-scarred region, rejection of the use of force and measures for de-escalation of the flashpoint Kodori Gorge -- the only part of Abkhazia controlled by Tbilisi.

Bagapsh of Abkhazia dismissed with the proposed return of the Georgian refugees, saying it could plunge the region into another war, said Georgian forces must pull out of Kodori.

But he tempered his criticism in other comments.

"What we have in our hands is a draft. That is how we see it. What we need to do now is to turn the draft into a document from which we can work in the future," he told reporters.

The talks between Bagapsh and Steinmeier took place in the town of Gali, a no-man's-land strewn with bombed-out houses from the 1992-1993 war in which Abkhazia, backed by Russia, broke away from the rest of Georgia.

Georgia gained independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and Germany was the first country to recognize it.

Abkhazia has enjoyed de facto independence from Tbilisi -- with diplomatic and economic backing from Moscow -- since the war, which killed thousands and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

Though Russia has stopped short of formally recognising Abkhazia's separatist government, it has recently stepped up ties with Abkhazia and another separatist territory, South Ossetia.

Unrest increased further this month with a series of bombings in Abkhazia, which the Abkhaz leadership blamed on Georgia, and Moscow's admission that it had sent military jets on flights over South Ossetia.

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