BUSH TO DISCUSS RUSSIAN BASES IN GEORGIA WITH PUTIN

Armenpress

YEREVAN, MAY 6, ARMENPRESS: U.S. President George W. Bush said in
an interview with European journalists on the eve of his European
trip that Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili asked him to raise
the issue of the withdrawal of Russian military bases from Georgia
with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Reuters and Associated Press
reported on May 6.

“As to the bases, as I understand it, the government of Russia has made
a statement that they’ll be out of the bases. And this is obviously
an issue that needs to be resolved between Georgia and Russia,”
Bush was quoted by Associated Press.

Meantime Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabichvili arrived today
in Moscow for talks with her Russian counterpart Serge Lavrov.

Lavrov and Zurabichvili had agreed to hold the meeting in a telephone
conversation on May 4. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the foreign
ministers would discuss “the wording of a likely statement by the
Russian and Georgian presidents on issues of bilateral relations.”

Salome Zurabichvili earlier said she was going to Moscow “to agree on
a final wording of a political statement by the Georgian and Russian
presidents.” Zurabichvili said the statement would focus on the issue
of the Russian bases’ pullout and the dates when this process may
be completed.