RUSSIA AND GEORGIA TO TALK MILITARY ISSUES IN GEORGIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY
RIA Novosti
TBILISI, February 11 (RIA Novosti's Marina Kvaratskhelia) - Russia and Georgia will hold negotiations Friday on military issues in the Georgian Foreign Ministry, with Georgian Deputy Defense Minister Merab Antadze heading the Georgian delegation, and the Russian Foreign Ministry's Ambassador at Large Igor Savolsky spearheading the Russian team.
The Foreign Ministry said the talks will focus on the enforcement of the OSCE Istanbul Agreements reached in 1999, concerning the withdrawal of Russian military bases from Georgia.
Under the agreements, the two remaining Russian military bases on Georgian soil - in Batumi and Akhalkalaki - are to be dismantled. Russian forces have already pulled out of two other bases: Vaziani (30 kilometers from Tbilisi) and Gudauta in the conflicted Abkhazian region.
The consultations will enable Russia and Georgia to maintain the dialog on the schedule of the pullouts, interrupted in 2003. While Georgia insists that the Russian troops should pull out within three years, Russia maintains it will take no less than 11 years to withdraw the basic infrastructure.
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