Georgia not to house US military bases, says president-elect
PLA Daily 2004-01-14
MOSCOW, Jan. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Georgian president-elect Mikhail Saakashvili said Monday that his country is not going to house US military bases on its territory, Russian Interfax news agency reported.
"The country's territory should be guarded and protected only by national troops," he told a news conference in the capital city of Tbilisi.
The United States has been trying to expand its military presence to Eastern Europe, Central Asia and some former Soviet territories, causing serious concern in Russia, a key power in the Caucasus region.
Commenting on Russia's military bases stationed in Georgia, he said Georgia "favors a human approach. We should not humiliate either the officers or the soldiers deployed there."
He said that the Georgian authorities would find "mutual-acceptable decisions with the Russian side in the frame of exiting agreements," adding that Georgia would not reconsider these agreements.
Saakashvili said that Georgia and Russia will jointly find funds to finance the bases' withdrawal.
"Others will probably help us," he noted.
Russia has maintained its troops in Georgia since the Soviet era. It has removed two military bases from the former Soviet republic but has left two others in operation.
Russian experts argue that the withdrawal of the remaining bases will take at least 11 years. Georgia believes Russia is capable of removing them within three years.
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