The Messenger, Georgia
May 20 2005

New anti-base withdrawal demonstrations in Russia
In Tbilisi, however, ministers say compromise is close
By Mary Makharashvili

With the latest round of negotiations on the withdrawal of Russian
bases scheduled to begin on Monday in Tbilisi, Russians opposed to
the base withdrawal held two demonstrations on Thursday, while in
Tbilisi officials expressed cautious optimism that an agreement is
close to being reached.

Russian students belonging to the pro-Kremlin Rodina party, who are
on Monday chanted “Now Burjanadze is swimming in wine, but she will
soon swim in blood, if she continues this anti-Russian campaign”
while pouring Georgian wine onto a doll, held a similar demonstration
in front of the Georgian Embassy in Moscow on Wednesday.

This time Mikheil Saakashvili was the focus of their attack. They
poured wine and squeezed pomegranates over an inflated bear with a
rose on its chest while chanting, “Hands off Russian bases.”

The second demonstration was held by representatives of the Russian
Liberal-Democratic party, led by firebrand Vladimir Zhirinovski,
who has described the withdrawal of Russian bases from Georgia as a
strategic mistake.

Not all messages coming from Russia were negative, however. The
Federation Council of the State Duma – the upper house – issued a
statement declaring that it does not welcome the suggestion of the
Abkhaz de facto authority that the military bases be relocated to
Abkhaz territory.

Chair of the Defense and Security Committee of the Council Viktor
Ozerov stated that Abkhazia was part of Georgia and that the deployment
of Russian bases on Abkhaz territory without agreement from Tbilisi
would be a violation of international law.

Speaking at a briefing in Moscow in Thursday, the Chief of Staff
of Russia’s armed forces Yuri Baluevsky suggested portions of the
Russian military bases could move to Armenia.

“Russian bases which will be withdrawn from Georgia are certain to move
to the territory of the Russian Federation; however, I don’t rule out
that the part of the ammunition and military hardware may be moved
to Armenia,” Baluevsky said. Earlier the Russian armed forces said
it would take 10-11 year to relocate the bases but Baluevsky said
that by moving portions of the base to Armenia, they could speed up
the process to only 4 years.

Back in Georgia, meanwhile, government officials have expressed
confidence that agreement will be reached soon, noting that
disagreements regarding the timeframe of withdrawal are small and
refer to a matter of months – whether the process should be completed
by the beginning or the end of 2008.

Yet another round of negotiation between Georgian and Russia are to be
held on Monday in Tbilisi, and several ministers have said this week
that a statement received from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
last Saturday offers reason to hope a compromise will be reached.

Speaker of the Parliament Nino Burjanadze said on Tuesday that the
document “contains two or three aspects which are quite acceptable
for us. If we can negotiate on these three issues than the other
issue can also be agreed on.”

“The Russian authority should once again understand that Georgia
wants to cooperate very constructively,” she stressed, adding, “the
Russian bases should leave Georgia no later than 2008. This is the
maximum the Georgian authority can offer.”

“We will discuss the draft document according to which the withdrawal
of Russian military bases from Georgian territory should happen by
2008. An agreement to withdraw the bases before 2008 was not of course
reached,” she added.

The main question now appears to be when in 2008 the process will be
completed, with government ministers stressing that the bases must
be fully withdrawn before the parliamentary elections slated to be
held that year.

“It is already known that we can say no later than the middle months
of 2008. This is the maximum compromise that we can make. I am not
aware of what agreement has been reached on this issue, but I think
that this process should not be dragged on,” he said.

Opposition parties have questioned the motivations behind linking
the end of the withdrawal process with the elections, however.

“The withdrawal of military bases needs a maximum one week so why
then. The reason is so simple: this is the parliamentary elections and
the government wants to stand before the electorate as the winner,”
said Forward Georgia member Giorgi Kobakhidze.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress