ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
June 9, 2005 Thursday 5:15 PM Eastern Time
Russian envoy to continue military, political talks in Tbilisi
By Yelena Pankratieva
MOSCOW
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s special envoy, Igor Savolsky is
arriving in Tbilisi on Friday to join the expert-level talks that
began in the Georgian capital on Wednesday.
The negotiators are discussing military and political themes and the
withdrawal of Russian military bases.
Taking part in the negotiations are Russian special envoy Lev Mironov
and his Georgian counterpart Malkhaz Mikeladze.
The implementation of agreements the two countries’ foreign ministers
achieved and put on record in a joint statement on May 30 is high on
the agenda.
Lev Mironov has said the experts’ meeting has been successful.
He told reporters he was pleased with the progress in the talks.
“I believe so are the Georgian counterparts,” he said.
Russia and Georgia have negotiated the withdrawal of bases since
2001, the Itar-Tass correspondent in Tbilisi Tengiz Pachkoria
reports. Moscow initially suggested a 14-year period of withdrawal,
then eleven years, and then eight years. Tbilisi at first argued it
wanted the bases out in 3-4 years, and then in 2-3 years.
The Georgian parliament on March 10 adopted a resolution saying that
if agreement were not achieved by May 15, Russia would be told to
withdraw the bases by January 1, 2006. The Russian and Georgian
foreign ministers came to terms at negotiations in Moscow on May 30.
Most Russian armaments from the Georgian bases will be pulled out
into Russia, and some redeployed to the Russian base in Gyumri, in
neighboring Armenia. At first the decision drew protests from
Azerbaijan, but the country’s Prime Minister Artur Rasi-Zade on June
3 said Baku would not regard this as something tragic.