Russian MFA Comments on Talks over Military Bases

In an information note issued on April 16 the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Russian-Georgian talks over the pullout of Russia’s two military bases from Georgia ended unsuccessfully, since Georgia pushed additional, unspecified, conditions forward for the bases’ withdrawal. 

“The [Russian and Georgian] delegations have discussed the draft agreement on terms and conditions of the functioning of Russian military bases in Georgia. The Russian side has reaffirmed its readiness to carry out an organized pullout of its military bases from Georgia and outlined arguments justifying those proposals over the timeframe and conditions of the pullout, which were developed in accordance with the talks [that took place] between Russian Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov and Georgian leadership on February 18 in Tbilisi,” the Russian Foreign Ministry’s information note reads.

“These proposals, actually, coincided with those timeframes which have been pushed by the Georgian side at previous rounds of negotiations. Concrete proposals over a gradual withdrawal of Russian military bases have also been put forward [by the Russian side], envisaging the withdrawal of military hardware during the first stage,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.

“Despite our constructive steps towards the Georgian side, we failed to achieve an agreement over the key aspects of the agreement because Tbilisi pushes additional conditions for the withdrawal of the Russian military bases,” the information note reads.
 
But in the note the Russian Foreign Ministry did not elaborate on any further details of negotiations, which are expected to continue in the near future.

According to a resolution adopted by the Georgian Parliament in March, the Georgian government has to enforce a number of measures, including the halting of issuing visas for the Russian servicemen, in the event that the sides fail to reach an agreement over a “reasonable” timeframe for the pullout of the Russian bases from Batumi and Akhalkalaki before May 15, 2005.