Russia Refuses to Allow NATO MPs to Visit Gudauta Base

The Russian side has refused to let a delegation of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, which traveled to breakaway Abkhazia on May 6, to visit the Gudauta military base in the unrecognized republic, Abkhaz news agency Apsnipress reported.

The President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Pierre Lellouche, who led the delegation, said that he regrets that Russia has changed its position and did not let the delegation visit Gudauta, according to Apsnipress.

Russia claims that it closed down its military base in Gudauta in 2001 as envisaged by the OSCE Istanbul treaty, but Georgia casts doubts over this claim and wants to launch regular international monitoring of the base.

The visiting NATO Parliamentary Assembly delegation met with Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh and other officials of the breakaway region, as well as with the command of the Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in the conflict zone, under the aegis of the CIS.