Russia Reaffirms Plans for Military Bases in Abkhazia, South Ossetia

Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, reiterated on September 18 that Russia would pull out its troops from the areas adjacent to Abkhazia and South Ossetia within ten days of European monitors being deployed there, but also added that Russian troops would remain in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"What’s happening inside Abkhazia and South Ossetia has nothing to do with the peacekeeping operations any longer," Lavrov told journalists in Moscow. "[Russian] military bases will be established there and a Russian Federation military contingent will be based there in response to a direct request by the legally elected authorities of these two sovereign states."

He also said that Moscow was aware of western criticism of the Russian position.

"We have explained to them many times that our actions are based on international law and that we have no other option as we see these moves as the only way to provide security for Abkhazia and South Ossetia and for the survival of the Abkhaz and South Ossetian people," Lavrov added.

Meanwhile, a senior U.S. official criticized Russia on September 17, for as he put it, its "ongoing attempt to dismember" Georgia.

Speaking at a U.S. foreign relations committee hearing, William Burns, the under-secretary of state for political affairs, also acknowledged that a "serious [Georgian] miscalculation" was also partly to blame for the August war.

"The causes of this conflict – particularly the dispute between Georgia and its breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia – are complex, with mistakes and miscalculations on all sides," he said. "But key facts are clear: Russia’s intensified pressure and provocations against Georgia – combined with a serious Georgian miscalculation – have resulted not only in armed conflict, but in an ongoing Russian attempt to dismember that country."

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