Georgia, Russia Resume Talks over Framework Agreement

Representatives of the Georgian and Russian Foreign Ministries launched talks on July 16  in Tbilisi over a framework agreement between Russia and Georgia.

Special Ambassador of the Russian Foreign Ministry Igor Salovsky leads the Russian delegation, while Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Merab Antadze represents the Georgian side.

Both the Georgian and Russian sides admit that the security and defense aspects of the agreement remain disputable. According to the Georgian side, Moscow wants to include in the agreement a provision that would ban Georgia from allowing any foreign country to establish a military bases on its soil.

According to the handshake agreement between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili during their meeting in Moscow on February 11, the new framework agreement is due to be signed during Vladimir Putin?s visit to Georgia, scheduled for sometime this autumn.

The Presidents of Georgia and the Russian Federation signed a framework agreement about friendship, peaceful relationship and cooperation on November 3, 1994. The Georgian Parliament ratified this document but the Russian Duma Council refused to ratify it, and so the drafting of a new agreement was launched instead.

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