BATUMI, AKHALKALAKI RESIDENTS AGAINST RUSSIAN MILITARY BASES CLOSURE
2005-03-31
TBILISI, March 31 (RIA Novosti) – On Thursday actions of protest were
held in the cities of Batumi (Adzharia) and Akhalkalaki (on the
Georgian-Armenian border) against Georgia’s demand to withdraw the
Russian military bases from them.
The press center of the Supreme Council of the Adzharian autonomy
reports: up to 300 protesters from the Georgian People’s Patriotic
Front staged in Batumi a procession with posters demanding an end to
the anti-Russian policy.
“The peoples of Georgia and Russia are brothers forever. Nobody can
stand in the way of their friendship. The Georgian leaders should stop
campaigning for the bases’ withdrawal,” chairman of the Georgian
People’s Patriotic Front Zurab Gotsiridze told RIA Novosti on the
phone.
A similar action took place in the Samtskhe-Dzhavakhetia region and
Akhalkalaki. Local Armenians (about 400) gathered outside the House of
Culture demanding that the Russian bases’ withdrawal campaign be
stopped, journalists were told at the regional governor’s
administration.
Presently, two Russian bases – in Batumi and Akhalkalaki – are
remaining in the Georgian territory. In addition, the Russian group of
troops in Transcaucasia is headquartered in Tbilisi. The strength of
the Russian group in Georgia is about 3,000.
Georgia and Russia are holding intensive talks on the bases’
withdrawal. In the beginning of March, Georgian parliamentarians
passed the resolution On the Russian Military Bases in the Territory
of Georgia, which reads, “The military bases of the Russian Federation
are to be withdrawn from Georgia. Such is the will of the government
and the people of Georgia.”
This resolution sets the deadline for coming to an agreement – before
May 15, 2005. If no agreement is reached before May 15, the government
of Georgia is to take tough sanctions with regard to the activities of
Russian servicemen in Georgia, the resolution insists