Georgian leader urges “civilized” solution to Russian base closure
Rustavi-2 TV, Tbilisi
5 Apr 05
[Presenter] The president believes all relations with Russia should
by governed by law. He was referring to a statement made by the
General Staff of the Russian air force saying that Georgia prevented
a Russian A-50 reconnaissance plane from entering its airspace. The
aircraft was travelling to Armenia as part of a CIS joint air-defence
system exercise.
[Saakashvili] Georgia is a country with laws. Everything is regulated
by the letter of the law. We are no longer some kind of Bantustan
where one or two people take all the decisions. We act according to
Georgia’s law, state procedures and international treaties. Georgia
will abide by all these treaties.
We are in talks with Russia. We are discussing how to resolve the
issue of [Russian military] bases in a civilized way. We have offered
them a staged withdrawal, so that it does not happen suddenly, we
have offered them various transit rights, but this is in a package.
On the 3rd [month not specified] there is one round of talks, then
on the 7th and 8th there is a second round.
Russia has had troops in Georgia for 200 years. The time has now come
for us to have a more civilized relationship.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress