RUSSIAN GENERAL TELLS DUMA IT MAKES NO SENSE TO KEEP GEORGIA BASES

ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
Oct 6 2006

Moscow, 6 October: Given the new political reality, the presence of
Russian military bases on Georgian territory no longer makes sense,
the chief commander of the Ground Troops, Aleksey Maslov, said in the
State Duma today. He called on the deputies to ratify the agreement
with Georgia on the timeframe and the procedure for the provisional
operation and withdrawal of Russian military bases and other military
facilities of the Group of Russian Troops in the Transcaucasus.

After the new Georgian authorities came to power, the Russian military
bases effectively "found themselves on the territory of an unfriendly
state with a clear anti-Russian political orientation and they have
only been able to carry out functions such as protecting their own
facilities and ensuring their operation", Maslov said.

"The agreement aims to protect the rights and dignity of Russian
servicemen on Georgian territory, is in keeping with the interests
of the Russian Federation and makes it possible to pull the Russian
military bases out of Georgia within the set timeframe. Failure to
ratify the agreement would give the Georgian leadership another
reason to stir up the situation concerning the Russian bases, to
create conditions for various sorts of provocations against Russian
servicemen and members of their families," Maslov said.

The Duma earlier today ratified an agreement with Georgia on the
transit of Russian troops and armaments via Georgia.

[RIA Novosti, Moscow, in Russian 0849 gmt 6 Oct 06 quoted an excerpt
of its interview with head of the State Duma’s CIS Affairs Committee
Andrey Kokoshin, who warned that the Russian troop withdrawal from
Georgia would lead to a deterioration of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict.

"There are concerns that the troop withdrawal will result in a
deterioration of the Georgian-South Ossetian and the Georgian-Abkhaz
conflicts. A propitious situation is also being created for the
emergence and escalation of a conflict in the Akhalkalaki area where
the Russian military base is stationed, which is mostly populated by
Armenians," Kokoshin told RIA Novosti. Nonetheless, the CIS Affairs
Committee recommended that the Duma should ratify the agreement on the
withdrawal of the Russian bases from Georgia, he said. Kokoshin noted
that the troop pullout would weaken Russia’s strategic positions in
the Caucasus and would change the balance in the southern flank of
the CFE Treaty area. He urged the Russian Defence Ministry to carry
out a thorough analysis of possible repercussions.

Interfax-Military News Agency, Moscow, in Russian 0826 gmt 6 Oct 06
quoted head of the Federation Council’s Defence and Security Committee
Viktor Ozerov as saying that the Russian military bases in Akhalkalaki
and Batumi "are in fact only dealing with reinforced protection of the
base and the headquarters of the group in Tbilisi and other facilities
being used by the troops. I believe that given such a situation,
there is no need to wait till the end of 2008, and that our troops
should be withdrawn from Georgian territory ahead of schedule".]