The Georgian Parliament will discuss a draft resolution, on March 9, envisaging an announcement that will declare the Russian military bases stationed in Georgia illegal. The draft resolution sets January 1, 2006 as the deadline for the pullout of 3,000 Russian soldiers and the closure of the Russia bases in Batumi, in the Adjara Autonomous Republic, and Akhalkalaki, in the south-western part of Georgia.
According to the draft resolution, the Georgian government will prepare measures which will enter force if there is no progress in Russo-Georgian negotiations on a “reasonable” timeframe for the withdrawal of the military bases before May 1, 2005.
• The Foreign Ministry has to halt issuing entry visas to Russian military servicemen;
• The Georgian Finance Ministry should assess the total debt for the functioning of the bases;
• The Defense and Interior Ministries should prepare a “special regime of movement” for the Russian servicemen, military hardware and cargo owned by the Russian military bases stationed in Georgia. However, the draft resolution does not specify the details of this “special regime of movement.”
The draft resolution describes the Russian military bases currently stationed in Georgia as “a holdover of the annexation and occupation of Georgia by Soviet Russia in 1921.”
Also according to the draft resolution, the Russian bases in Georgia must operate in “a pullout regime” before January 1, 2006. “A pullout regime” is described as a period which should be used to prepare for the complete closure of these bases. “Functioning of the bases, including military exercises, rotation of personnel etc. [during this pullout regime] is absolutely unacceptable for the Georgian side,” the draft resolution reads.
The 1999 OSCE Istanbul Treaty clearly prescribed that the Russian and Georgia sides reach an agreement regarding this issue before 2001. “During the year 2000 the two Sides will complete negotiations regarding the duration and modalities of the functioning of the Russian military bases at Batumi and Akhalkalaki,” the Treaty reads.
But the Georgian side accuses Russia of “dragging out the process of negotiations.” The draft resolution of the Georgian Parliament reads: “despite those compromising proposals put forward by the Georgian side, the negotiation process over the withdrawal of the Russian military bases from Georgia is deadlocked… It is clear that Russia is using ‘drag-out’ tactics. Moreover, Russia [presently] holds meetings, at the expert level [between the Russian and Georgian sides], two-three times a year in an attempt to demonstrate to the international community that the negotiations are underway.”
The 1999 OSCE Istanbul Treaty also obliges Russia to pull out its bases from Vaziani, near Tbilisi, and Gudauta, in breakaway Abkhazia, before July 1, 2001. According to the Georgian Parliament’s draft resolution Russia fulfilled this commitment only “partially.”
“The Vaziani base has been liquidated but… 300 Russian servicemen still remain at the Gudauta military base,” the draft resolution reads, adding that international monitoring of the military base in Gudauta is necessary.
The draft resolution also states that not only is the Russian side not considering a closure of its bases but is also undertaking measures aimed at “optimizing these military bases.”
“There are indications of an increased of number of personal at the military bases. Despite a ban by the Georgian side, military exercises are being held anyway,” the draft resolution reads.
Georgian parliamentarians say that the draft resolution was agreed with the Georgian Foreign Ministry.
Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs MP Kote Bagabashivli said that endorsement of the draft resolution will “irritate” Moscow. “But Georgia is not afraid of Russia’s irritation,” he told reporters on March 7.
“Adoption of this kind of resolution has become necessary, as we already have no hope that Russia will voluntarily pull out its bases,” MP Givi Targamadze, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security, where the draft resolution was developed, told reporters.
Russia has already accused Georgia of undermining the negotiation process by issuing threats over a possible “blockade” of Russian military bases by halting their electricity supply and stopping visas from being issued to Russian servicemen. In an information note issued on March 4 the Russian Foreign Ministry says that Tbilisi “complicates the process of negotiations” by use of these threats.
During his visit in Tbilisi on February 18, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Georgian counterpart Salome Zourabichvili agreed to set up separate working groups in an attempt to reach a breakthrough over a set of issues, which currently top the agenda of bilateral ties – the military bases being one of these issues. These working groups should prepare proposals over solving these problems by May 9, when Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili plans to visit Moscow. Not a single meeting of these working groups has taken place so far.
