Russian troop redeployment will not affect Caucasus regional balance of forces – parliamentarian

RIA Novosti, Russia –
June 27 2005

MOSCOW, June 27 (RIA Novosti) – The partial redeployment of Russian
troops from Georgia to Armenia will not affect the balance of forces
in the Caucasus, a senior member of the Russian parliament’s lower
chamber said Monday.

Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the State Duma’s international
affairs committee said the troops could not be used to resolve the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

“This is an issue for Russian-Armenian relations,” he said.
“Naturally, the redeployment does not upset the balance of power in
the region and will not be used to resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict.”

Kosachev said that Russia had been forced to withdraw its bases from
Georgia after the authorities there made the corresponding decision.
According to him, Russia would not have had to send its troops to
Armenia if the withdrawal had been a routine process.

“But as we were virtually forced out of Georgia, we had to make other
decisions and redeploy troops to a base in Armenia, but this was done
with the permission of the Armenian side,” the parliamentarian said.

He added that if Azerbaijan had made a similar proposal, Russia might
have accepted it.