Georgia and Russia failed once again to make a breakthrough in talks, which were held in Tbilisi on April 14-15, over the pullout of Russia’s two military bases from Batumi and Akhalkalaki. This failure comes just one month before the expiration of a deadline set by the Georgian Parliament for the government, according to which the Georgian authorities should enforce a number of measures if neither side reach an agreement over timeframe of bases withdrawal before May 15, 2005.
The Russian Foreign Ministry accused the Georgian side of hampering the negotiation process. In an information note issued on April 16 the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the April 14-15 talks ended unsuccessfully, since Georgia insisted on pushing additional, unspecified, conditions forward for the bases’ withdrawal.
“The [Russian and Georgian] delegations discussed the draft agreement for the terms and conditions of the functioning of the Russian military bases in Georgia. The Russian side has reaffirmed its readiness to carry out an organized pullout of these military bases from Georgia and outlined arguments justifying those proposals over the timeframe and conditions of the pullout, which were developed in accordance to the talks 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 the gradual withdrawal of the 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 is pushing additional conditions for the withdrawal of Russian military bases,” the information note reads.
But the Russian Foreign Ministry’s note did not elaborate any further details of negotiations, which are expected to continue in the near future, though no exact date is known yet. The Georgian Foreign Ministry also refuses to unveil details of those proposals which were put forward by the two sides during the talks, citing that it might hamper the negotiation process.
According to unofficial information, which has recently been circulating in both Russian and Georgian media sources, the Georgia side has agreed on a timeframe of three years for the withdrawal of Russia’s two military bases – before January 1, 2009, but only on the condition that during this period these bases operate in a “pull-out regime,” which means that maintaining combat-readiness, military exercises and rotation of military personnel will be banned during this period. This condition is unacceptable for Russia, according this information.
But the Georgian Foreign Ministry denied this report. “I can reaffirm that none of the information reported by the media sources is true. We have agreed with our Russian colleagues that no information will be disseminated during the negotiation process… this is the rule,” Kakha Sikharulidze, the Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister, said.
The Georgian Parliament adopted a resolution on March 10 which instructs the Georgian government to enforce a number of measures in the event that the two sides fail to reach an agreement over a “reasonable” timeframe for the withdrawal of the Russian bases before May 15, 2005.
These measures include the halting of issuing entry visas to Russian military servicemen; assessment of the total debt for the functioning of the bases and preparing an unspecified “special regime of movement” for the Russian servicemen, military hardware and cargo owned by the Russian military bases stationed in Georgia. The Parliament also instructs the Ministry of Environment “to assess the ecological damage caused by the functioning of the Russian military bases.”
