RIA Novosti, Russia
Jan 19 2005

RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER TO TOUR SOUTH CAUCASUS IN FEBRUARY

MOSCOW, January 19 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov announced at a press conference in Moscow on Wednesday that he
plans to visit Georgia on February 18.

The minister stated that during the visit he would discuss with
Georgian leadership the so-called “grand treaty” between Russia and
Georgia and a variety of other bilateral issues. “One of the issues
on the agenda is the creation of anti-terrorist centers with the use
of existing infrastructure, including Russian military bases,” the
minister said answering the questions posed by Georgian journalists.

“Unfortunately, the talks on the “grand treaty” have been stalled for
several months. In the near future, we will resume the discussions
with the Georgian side on the entire range of bilateral relations in
order to expedite the work on the treaty,” Mr. Lavrov noted, adding
that the contacts between Russian and Georgian representatives would
start even before his visit to Tbilisi.

According to Mr. Lavrov, the interaction between Russian and Georgian
frontier guards must continue to prevent terrorists from using the
Pankisi Gorge for accomplishing their goals.

He reminded that Russian and Georgian frontier guards recently
established cooperation in this area, which brought concrete results,
but could not solve all problems.

“This cooperation must continue to prevent terrorists from using the
Pankisi Gorge as their base and recuperation area,” he said.

The problem of re-establishing railroad transportation between Russia
and Armenia can be solved in the context of the development of the
entire range of Russian-Georgian relations, Mr. Lavrov believes.

“The re-establishment of railroad transportation does not depend on
Russia but rather on some of our neighbors,” he stated. “It can be
solved in the context of general development of relations with
Georgia,” Mr. Lavrov said.

Speaking about his February visit to Yerevan, the Russian foreign
minister announcedthat he would discuss with Armenian leadership the
issues of bilateral relations in the context of their participation
in the CIS and CSTO. In particular, the sides will touch upon the
reforms of the CIS following the results of the consultations
conducted with the Armenian leadership in Yerevan.

Mr. Lavrov also plans to visit Azerbaijan on February 2 to discuss
the preparation of the upcoming visit of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev
to Moscow. “We will focus on the preparation of the Azeri President’s
visit to Russia in the second half of February,” Mr. Lavrov said.

In addition, he noted that during his visit to Azerbaijan, the sides
would discuss issues of bilateral cooperation and CIS reforms.

Mr. Lavrov did not disregard the possibility that the sides might
also touch upon the issue of Nagorny-Karabakh settlement.

“Recently, we had certain positive developments in the situation
after the meeting between Armenian and Azeri presidents in Astana
(Kazakhstan) mediated by the Russian president Vladimir Putin,” Mr.
Lavrov emphasized.

The Russian foreign minister reiterated Russia’s attitude toward the
situation around Nagorny-Karabakh and pointed out that Russia is
interested that the sides find the fastest and mutually-acceptable
solution of the long-lasting conflict.