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RUSSIAN BASES IN GEORGIA AS FACTOR OF STABILITY IN CAUCASUS

RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, March 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russian military bases in Georgia are a factor of stability in the Caucasus as a whole, Dmitry Ragozin, state Duma's Rodina faction leader, opined.

"The military bases [in Georgia] is a guarantee for Russia that the situation will not be destabilized in the Caucasus on the doorstep of Russia and near three hotbeds of tension - South Ossetia, Abkhazia (both are self-proclaimed independent states) and Nagorno-Karabakh (a region in Azerbaijan populated by Armenians) - and that no foreign troops will crop up to pursue unfriendly policies," Mr. Ragozin told RIA Novosti.

The Russian-Georgian conflict boils down to Georgia unwilling to see Russian military bases on its soil and "Russian leaders distrusting their Georgian counterparts and not believing that Georgia will stay neutral", he noted.

Security cannot be ensured unilaterally.

"Our Georgian colleagues should not hiss [in anger], rather realize that security can be only mutual," Mr. Ragozin said.

"If the Georgian leaders can guarantee that there will not be any foreign troops in the country, we can reconsider our stance on the bases pullout from Georgia," he said in the corridors of the State Duma, commenting on Georgia's statement on outlawing the Russian military bases in Georgia.

Mr. Ragozin added that as far as the withdrawal of the bases is concerned, the parties should get down to the meat of the problem.

"We are hampered by the lack of understanding. Georgia equates the Russian bases on its soil to a foreign military presence, while Russia regards Georgia's striving to get rid of those bases as an unfriendly act," he said.