WITHDRAWAL OF RUSSIAN BASES FROM GEORGIA IS POSSIBLE ONLY ON COMPROMISE

RIA Novosti, Russia
March 22 2005

MOSCOW, March 22 (RIA Novosti) – The head of the State Duma committee
for the CIS affairs and relations with compatriots, Andrei Kokoshin,
hopes that a compromise decision will be found at the Russian-Georgian
negotiations on withdrawal of the Russian military bases from Georgia.

“I hope that a decision, which will take into consideration the
interests of both sides as well as the international situation will be
found at the negotiations,” he said at the news conference in Moscow.

Answering the question concerning the formation of an anti-terrorist
center instead of the Russian military bases, which are deployed in
Georgia (one – in Batumi (Adjaria) and the other one in Akhalkalaki
(on the border with Armenia), Mr. Kokoshin said that such a center
is necessary for the whole region. “Russia and Georgia must find here
a mutually acceptable decision,” the parliamentarian said.

At the present time, he continued, the State Duma is considering this
issue. “We want to find such a formula which would meet the interests
of the security of both Russia and Georgia,” Mr. Kokoshin pointed out.

However, today’s incident, when Russian peacekeepers at the
administrative border between Abkhazia and Georgia brought their
military equipment into a Georgian village, caused a new outburst of
anti-Russian hysteria among the Georgian parliamentarians.

“The illegal bringing of heavy military equipment of the Russian
peacekeepers into the Georgian village of Ganmukhuri testifies that
they pose a threat to our national security,” member of parliament
Georgy Bokeria said.

However, according to him, the Georgian leadership is not yet ready
to raise the question of withdrawing the Russian peacekeepers from
the country.

“When raising such questions we must clearly see their consequences.
Our closest task is to seek thewithdrawal of the Russian military
bases from Georgia and then to get rid of the Russian peacekeepers,”
the parliamentarian said.

At the same tine, at the plenary session of the Georgian parliament
on Tuesday, the opposition rebuked the pro-presidential faction,
the National Movement – Democrats, that the Georgian leadership is
not in a hurry to raise the question of the immediate withdrawal of
the Russian peacekeepers from the country.

“In their election campaign, the representatives of the power now in
force promised the people to complete the withdrawal of the Russian
peacekeepers from Georgia. However, when they came to power, they
are not in a hurry to do it,” a member of the opposition faction,
New Right-Wingers – Industrialists, Gocha Dzhodzhua, said.

As a spokesman for the Georgian Interior Ministry’s press service
told RIA Novosti, Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili intends to hold
on Tuesday a special briefing concerning the bringing of the heavy
military equipment of the Russian peacekeepers into the Georgian
village of Ganmukhuri.