Senior Russian MP accuses Georgia of “blackmail” over bases
Interfax-AVN military news agency web site
12 May 05
MOSCOW
The chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs,
Konstantin Kosachev, described today’s statement by Georgian
parliamentary speaker Nino Burjanadze that Georgia is determined to
unilaterally declare Russian military bases on its territory closed on
15 May as “blackmail and unfriendly attitude to Russia”. [Russian
Interfax-AVN news agency said at 0858 today, quoting Burjanadze, that
“Georgia is ready to unilaterally declare the transfer of Russian
military bases to withdrawal procedure on 15 May”.]
“This is unquestionably blackmail and the expression of unfriendly
attitude towards Russia, and if this decision is made, it will strike
a discordant note with the negotiating process and the position that
Russia is assuming at the negotiations on the dates for the bases’
withdrawal,” Kosachev said at a news conference at the Interfax main
office today.
“Setting deadlines is impossible in any negotiations in principle:
when one of the parties sets these terms, it drives negotiations into
a deadlock,” he said.
Russia has made a number of concessions on the dates for the
withdrawal, Kosachev said. In particular, Russia “has revised the
original dates for the withdrawal to 4 from 11 years, and reconsidered
plans for the further settlement of units to be pulled out of
Georgia. Many of them will be transferred not to infrastructure built
from scratch, but to that which already exists in Russia and Armenia,”
he said.
“Ms Burjanadze’s statement puts Russia into a position in which it
would have either to agree with this demand and hastily withdraw the
troops, or not agree and face sanctions,” Kosachev said.