Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
May 24, 2004, Monday
RUSSIA HAS NO INTENTION TO HASTILY WITHDRAW ITS TROOPS FROM GEORGIA
AND LIQUIDATE ITS MILITARY BASE IN TAJIKISTAN
Any “hasty withdrawal of Russian military bases from Georgia” is
out of the question, Russia’s Acting Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov
announced during his visit to Yerevan. “In this case the measures taken
during withdrawal of the Russian forces from Germany in early 1990s
won’t pass now,” Ivanov said at his meeting with Serzh Sarkisyan,
his Armenian counterpart. Besides, Sergei Ivanov flatly denied the
information of Moscow’s alleged plans to close the Russian military
base in Tajikistan and withdraw its troops from the republic.
Source: Vremya Novostei, May 21, 2004, p. 1