In an interview with the Russian news agency Interfax, Igor Savolsky, the Russian Foreign Ministry?s special envoy for CIS affairs and Russia?s chief negotiator in talks over the withdrawal of Russian military bases from Georgia, said that the Russian side spares no efforts to follow the declaration signed by the Georgian and Russian Foreign Ministers over the pullout of Russian bases from Batumi and Akhalkalaki, despite ?bureaucratic obstacles? created by the Georgian authorities.
?[According to the joint declaration,] by September 1, 2005 at least 40 armored vehicles [including no less than 20 tanks] should be withdrawn. All the necessary preparatory works have been carried out by the Russian side. Representatives of the Russian Defense Ministry are currently there [in Georgia] in order to ensure the fulfillment of the agreement? Igor Savolsky said.
?But, unfortunately, the Georgian side creates every possible bureaucratic obstacle? In this regard our embassy in Tbilisi recently sent a note to the Georgian Foreign Ministry with the request to render all possible assistance to the fulfillment of the agreement. The issue concerns technical problems, including issuing visas to those Russian servicemen who have to prepare the equipment for withdrawal,? he added.
Savolsky also said that the Russian side has requested that the Georgian side assess the condition and technical capabilities of the five bridges in Samtskhe-Javakheti which the Russian military hardware will have to cross during the pullout process from the Akhalkalaki base. ?It should be confirmed that the bridges will not crumble if a tank passes over them,? he said.
Igor Savolsky also commented on a draft of a comprehensive framework agreement between Russia and Georgia and said that this issue has been recently overshadowed by the talks on the withdrawal of the bases.
He said that Moscow is now waiting for Tbilisi?s response to a proposal delivered by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during the latter?s visit to Tbilisi in February.
Security issues were the main controversy persisting between Tbilisi and Moscow over the framework agreement. Moscow wanted Georgia to include a legally binding commitment in the agreement stating that Georgia would not allow a third country to deploy forces on its soil. Tbilisi was against this proposal and offered as a compromise that Georgian Parliament adopt a resolution saying that Georgia will not host foreign troops.
?We take into account these political statements [of Georgian officials on non-deployment of foreign troops], but we would like this commitment to be a legally binding one,? Savolsky said.
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