Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Georgia

Georgian Parliament Ratifies Russian Withdrawal

(RFE/RL)

April 13, 2006 -- Georgia's lawmakers today ratified an agreement under which Russia will pull out of its two military bases in Georgia by the end of 2008.

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April 13, 2006

Under their terms of agreements signed on March 31, Russia will withdraw from a base in the southern region of Samtskhe-Javakheti by the end of 2007 and from its other base -- in the Black Sea port of Batumi -- by the end of the following year.

The Georgian government has welcomed the agreement. But the opposition fears Moscow will be able to maintain a military presence through a planned Georgian-Russian antiterrorism center in Batumi.

Georgia's Foreign Ministry says that the agreement only mentions the possibility of such a center and that it may not be set up.

(Civil Georgia, Novosti-Gruziya)

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