Abkhaz Foreign Minister Comments on Gudauta Base

Foreign minister of breakaway Abkhazia Sergey Shamba said on April 13 that Russia closed down its military base in Gudauta in 2001, though if Russia and the OSCE decide to launch international monitoring on “the former base”, Sokhumi will be against Tbilisi’s participation in this process, Apsnypress news agency reported.
 
Tbilisi insists on international monitoring of the base to verify its closure, as envisaged by 1999 OSCE Istanbul treaty.
 
According to a joint declaration signed by Russian and Georgian Foreign Ministers in Moscow on May 30, 2005, the sides agreed to continue working over the launch of an international monitoring program for the military base in Gudauta, under the aegis of the OSCE.

But the March 31, 2006 agreement on Russian bases’ pullout, which is mainly based on the May 30, 2005 joint declaration, and which was ratified by the Georgian Parliament on April 13, says nothing about the Gudauta base. Exclusion of a provision about international monitoring of the Gudauta base triggered much opposition criticism towards the Georgian government.

In a response Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Merab Antadze said on April 13 that the talks over the Gudauta base are underway and the issue of conducting international monitoring on the base is still on the agenda.
 
Abkhaz foreign minister Sergey Shamba said that it is up to Russia and the OSCE to decide the issue of Gudauta base monitoring.
 
“If Russia and the OSCE consider it necessary to monitor the former Gudauta base, we will make a relevant decision… But we are categorically against the participation of the Georgian side in this inspection,” Shamba added.
 
Apsnypress news agency also reported quoting Maj.-Gen. Sergey Chaban, commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces deployed in the Abkhaz conflict zone, that currently only 4 helicopters and 130 Russian servicemen belonging to the peacekeeping forces are deployed at the Gudauta base.