Powell: Russia has an Open Attitude towards Bases Withdrawal

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Moscow-based Echo Moskvy radio station on January 27 that he is “impressed by the open attitude that President Putin had towards” the issue of withdrawal of the Russian military bases from Georgia.

“I know that he [President Putin] and Foreign Minister [Igor] Ivanov will be working with the new leadership of Georgia to come up with a solution to the situation,” Colin Powell said, who has visited Tbilisi on January 25, before arrival in Moscow.

He said that the issue of withdrawal of the two Russian military bases from Georgia “is a matter for Russian authorities and the Georgian authorities to work out through discussions and negotiations over time.”

“The U.S. position is that those forces should come out in accordance with the Istanbul commitments that the Russian Federation entered into in 1999,” the U.S. Secretary of State added.