Kommersant, Russia
May 31 2005

Everything Goes

Russia agrees to eliminate its bases in Georgia

Diplomacy

Russia and Georgia finally reached an agreement yesterday on the
deadlines for the removal of Russian military bases from Batumi and
Ajalkalaki. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Georgian
counterpart, Salome Zurabishvili, announced that the bases would be
removed in 2008. Russia made major concessions, but the trouble
associated with the removal of the bases hasn’t ended there: the
relocation of the Ajalkalaki base to Gyumri [Armenia] is fraught with
a serious worsening of relations between Moscow and Baku.

The Georgian Decision

A settlement of the issue of Russian bases in Georgia has been
expected for a long time. The foreign ministers of the two countries
should have reached an agreement on the deadlines for removal of the
bases at the beginning of May, but no breakthrough occurred at that
time. The parties were unable to agree, and Georgian President
Mikhail Saakashvili did not attend the Victory Day celebrations in
Moscow. The diplomats also failed to meet the new deadline of May 15.
A few months ago, the Georgian parliament sent Russia an ultimatum
demanding that it sign an agreement on removal of the bases by that
date; otherwise, the bases would be declared illegal.

In order to finally reach an agreement, Moscow had to make major
concessions. Back in 2000, the Russian side tried to convince Georgia
that it would take 15 years after the signing of an agreement to
complete the troop withdrawal. Two years later, the requirement
decreased to 11-12 years. Last year, Moscow demanded 7-8 years for
the withdrawal. During all this time Tbilisi, kept insisting that
Russian troops had to pull out within three years. This year,
Russia’s position changed even more drastically. At the end of April,
Boris Mironov, the Speaker of the Federation Council, acknowledged
during talks with Nino Burdzhanadze, the Speaker of the Georgian
Parliament, that Moscow could remove the base from Ajalkalaki by
January 2008, and from Batumi, by January 2009. Tbilisi named
December 2007 and March 2008. In the end, the parties reached a
compromise of sorts yesterday; they delivered a joint statement
confirming that the base in Ajalkalaki would be removed first,
followed by the base in Batumi. “The withdrawal will be completed in
2008,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said evasively.

Gela Charkviani, President Saakashvili’s press secretary, said
yesterday that the Russian bases in Batumi and Ajalkalaki would cease
operations as military bases and from now on would function only in
withdrawal mode. The removal of heavy equipment will begin this year;
at least 40 armored units, including at least 20 tanks, must be
removed by the end of the year. In the course of the current year,
Russian will turn over to Georgia all military facilities on Georgian
territory not being used by Russian troops. Removal of the military
equipment from the base in Ajalkalaki is expected to be complete
before the end of 2006, and the base will be closed completely before
October 1, 2007. As for the Batumi base, like the Russian army
headquarters, it must be closed by the end of 2008. Fixed assets will
be removed from Batumi by ship, while those from Ajalkalaki will be
taken in trailers to the Russian base in Gyumri, Armenia. During this
period, the Russian side will not replace or replenish armaments or
equipment, although rotation of servicemen who have completed their
tour of duty will be permitted. President Saakashvili is already
preparing a statement regarding this.

Finally, as Moscow has been demanding, the document states that “an
approved unit of personnel, material and technical resources, and
infrastructure of the Russian military base in Batumi will be used in
the interests of a Georgian-Russian antiterrorist center being set
up.” However, the establishment of this center “will be formalized in
a separate document”.

The Azerbaijan Problem

Having nearly eliminated the problem in relations with Tbilisi, the
Kremlin simultaneously acquired another, no less serious problem in
relations with Baku. As Kommersant already reported on May 24,
information that the base in Ajalkalaki would be relocated to Gyumri
caused an extremely negative reaction in official Baku. Baku was
particularly incensed that the Russian authorities had not informed
Azerbaijan of the planned transfer of troops to Armenia. The matter
reached the level of official protests. For example, on May 23, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan sent the Russian Embassy in
Baku a very sharply worded official note. The note stated that the
relocation of the base from Ajalkalaki to Gyumri “has seriously
inflamed public opinion in Azerbaijan, will do nothing to meet the
interests of peace and security in the region, and will aggravate
tensions in the already difficult situation surrounding the process
of settling the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.” In what
nearly amounted to an ultimatum, Baku demanded that Moscow renounce
its plans to move assets and armaments from Georgia to Armenia,
thereby affirming its “interest in security and stability in the
region.”

>>From the standpoint of the norms and regulations of diplomatic
protocol, the text was extremely harsh and unequivocal. This
diplomatic move was clearly sanctioned by Azerbaijan’s top
leadership. As Kommersant has learned, Russia’s Ministry of Defense
is examining possible ways to smooth over the problem and appease
Baku. For example, Moscow might make Azerbaijan a number of
advantageous offers, such as compensation in the form of preferential
deliveries of Russian military equipment to Azerbaijan’s armed
forces.

by Vladimir Novikov, Tbilisi; Mikhail Zygar

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress