Russia insists on accord with Georgia before troops pullout
PLA Daily 2004-01-15
MOSCOW, Jan. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Russia said Wednesday that it will offer funds for the pullout of its military bases from Georgia, but an agreement must be reached between the two sides before that.
"The Finance Ministry will plan allocation of funds (for the pullout of Russian troops from Georgia) only after the Russian-Georgian interstate treaty is signed," said Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who was visiting Krasnoyarsk in central Russia.
Bilateral talks on the issue are underway and will be continued, the Interfax news agency quoted Ivanov as saying.
Moscow will be "unperturbed" by any sort of statements made on the issue, Ivanov said.
Russia has removed two of its four military bases deployed in Georgia, but the two neighbors remain far apart on when the other two bases should be pulled out. Georgia wants them out within three years, while Russia insists that the complete removal of all troops would take some 11 years.
Russia needs that long to build new military settlements for the returned personnel, which would be a long process, the minister said.
Ivanov stressed that the withdrawal will not happen the way it was done in Germany, recalling that at that time, Russian soldiers, officers and weapons were dumped in the middle of nowhere.
"This won't happen again," Ivanov said.
He said Russia will only conduct dialogue with Georgia's legal authorities and that the decision involving the withdrawal should remain in the diplomatic sphere alone.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Lynn Pascoe said Tuesday in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi that Washington is ready to fund the withdrawal of two Russian military bases from the former Soviet Caucasus republic.
Angered by a recent anti-Russian statement made by a Georgian politician, Russia on Tuesday warned Tbilisi that any action against its military bases and citizens in Georgia could have "serious consequences."
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