Georgian parliament set to debate future of Russian bases
By MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI

AP Worldstream
Mar 09, 2005

Georgia’s parliamentary speaker on Wednesday urged lawmakers to
postpone discussing an ultimatum threatening to blockade Russia’s two
remaining military bases in the country, but legislators insisted on
debating the politically explosive issue.

The Soviet-era bases at Batumi and Akhalkalaki are the focus of
increasing tension between Western-leaning Georgia and its neighbor.
Russia has said it could take as much as a dozen years to close down
the bases, which Georgia says is unacceptable.

Speaker Nino Burdzhanadze said Russia had agreed to examine the issue
by May 1.

“We need to wait for results and then make a decision,” Burdzhanadze
said, calling on the legislature to return the draft legislation
proposing the blockade to the defense committee.

President Mikhail Saakashvili told reporters Tuesday that his
government’s position was unchanged: “The Russian bases must be
withdrawn from Georgia.”

But like Burdzhanadze, he expressed hope that Georgia and Russia
could reach an agreement within six weeks.

“In spite of the fact that my hopes have not been justified in the
past, maybe this time we will achieve progress in the negotiations
with Russia,” he said. “No one has the right to have their military
bases on our territory.”

The proposed legislation under discussion calls for Russia to set a
“reasonable period” for closing the bases by May 1.

Parliamentary defense committee chairman Givi Targamadze said that
if no agreement is reached, authorities should plan “to prevent any
movement on Georgian territory by Russian servicemen except for that
which is connected to withdrawal from the territory of our country.”

In spite of Georgian leaders’ strong stand on the bases, they are
worried about possible unrest among the population, especially the
Armenian-minority residents in the city of Akhalkalaki. Many of them
work at the Russian base and have sharply protested its possible
closure, which would lead to massive unemployment _ already a chronic
problem elsewhere in impoverished Georgia.