MosNews, Russia
March 11 2005

Russian Military Commander Denied Visa to Georgia — Paper

MosNews

The new commander of Russia’s military forces in Transcaucasia, Major
General Alexander Bespalov, has been unable to obtain an entry visa
to Georgia, the Kommersant newspaper wrote on Friday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry notified Georgia about the forthcoming
change of commander in advance. Nevertheless, Bespalov was unable to
travel to Tbilisi.

Bespalov has replaced Lieutenant-General Alexander Studenikin who
was given the command of the 2nd Guards Combined Army in the Central
Russian city of Samara. Bespalov has taken up his command of the
Russian troops in Transcaucasia in the territory of the 102nd Russian
military base in Gyumri, Armenia, instead of Tbilisi.

The Georgian side has not yet given a reason for the denial of a
visa, the paper quoted deputy the commander of the troops, Vladimir
Kuparadze, as saying.