Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Georgia

Russia Says Troops To Leave Tbilisi Early

Guards at the Russian military headquarters in Tbilisi (epa)

October 11, 2006 -- Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov says all Russian troops based in Tbilisi will be pulled out ahead of schedule.

TEXT SIZE - +

October 11, 2006

Ivanov said that the entire garrison of some 390 soldiers and more than 480 civilians will leave Georgia before the end of this year because of what he called the "wise" policies of the Georgian government.

His comments, made on October 10, come amid the worst crisis in bilateral relations in years, triggered by Georgia's expulsion of four alleged Russian spies.

Ivanov also reiterated assurances that Russia will vacate its two bases in Georgia, at Batumi and Akhalkalaki, by the end of 2008 as planned.

He said Russia is not seeking to annex or incorporate Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia but also said that Russian peacekeepers there will not leave until all sides in the conflict demand that it withdraw.

(RIA Novosti, Interfax, AP)

Moscow And Tbilisi

Russian military hardware being withdrawn from a Russian base in Batumi, Georgia, in August 2005 (TASS)

WHAT COMES NEXT? Although Russia is unlikely to push an aggressive military response to the current tensions with Georgia, it has a number of economic, political, and diplomatic options at its disposal. Already on October 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin summoned his inner circle to weigh Moscow's options... (more)

Russia Says Georgia Sanctions Will Continue

Russia Suspends Transport, Postal Links To Georgia

EU Commissioner Urges Dialogue With Moscow

Ulterior Motives Seen Behind Escalation Of Spy Row

Georgia Turns Russians Over To OSCE

MORE: Coverage of the situation in Georgian from RFE/RL's Georgian Service and in Russian from RFE/RL's Russian Service.

ARCHIVE

RFE/RL's English-language coverage of Georgia and Russia.

President Serzh Sarkisian has promised fair elections

Prospect Of Vote-Rigging Overshadows Upcoming Armenian Parliamentary Election

The Armenian parliamentary elections due in May will not simply be a struggle between rival political parties with diverging priorities and platforms. More

Alla Dzhioyeva attends a protest by her supporters in Tskhinvali on January 28.

South Ossetian Opposition Leader Hospitalized After Raid

Alla Dzhioyeva, the opposition candidate whose victory in a runoff ballot in November for de facto president of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia was swiftly annulled by the republic's Supreme Court, was taken to a hospital after a raid by some 200 masked security personnel on her headquarters in Tskhinvali. More

Former KGB head Leonid Tibilov is a presidential hopeful.

Repeat South Ossetian Election Campaign Gathers Momentum

The run-up to the repeat election on March 24 for a new de facto president of Georgia's breakaway Republic of South Ossetia bears an uncanny resemblance to last November's election campaign. More