Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Georgian defence chief accuses Russia of lying about Abkhazia base

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Georgian defence chief accuses Russia of lying about Abkhazia base

    Georgian defence chief accuses Russia of lying about Abkhazia base

    Rustavi-2 TV, Tbilisi
    31 Mar 06

    Georgian Defence Minister Irakli Okruashvili has accused Russia of
    "lying" about the closure of the Russian military base in Gudauta,
    Abkhazia. In a live interview with Rustavi-2 TV on 31 March,
    Okruashvili said that the Gudauta base was still in active service.

    Okruashvili also said he hoped that the Russian "so-called"
    peacekeepers would leave South Ossetia by the end of 2006. Commenting
    on the Russian import ban on Georgian wine, Okruashvili suggested
    that the ban could eventually cost Russia dearly.

    The interview began with Okruashvili's comment on the signing of the 31
    March agreement on the time scale and procedures for the withdrawal of
    Russian bases and other military assets from Georgian territory. The
    minister said that Russia had been procrastinating over it for a long
    time. "Active negotiations started in early June [2005]. As I have
    said, we spent almost a year to agree some meaningless details. The
    process had been delayed, but fortunately it ended today. In the
    near future, there will be several serious NATO and other summits in
    Europe, so apparently the Russians did not want to find themselves
    in an awkward situation and be accused of failing to fulfil their
    international obligations. That's why we worked on this document so
    fast during the past two weeks," he noted.

    Answering a question about possible complications with Azerbaijan
    because of the planned transfer of the military hardware to the Russian
    base in Armenia, Okruashvili said that this issue was "not of principal
    importance" for Georgia. "Two thirds of the hardware will be taken to
    Russia and one third will be transferred to the Russian military base
    in Armenia, but this is not of principal importance for us. Russia
    is not going to donate this hardware to the Armenian government and
    its armed forces. Russia will deploy it at its military base," he said.

    "I have said that the signing of today's agreement launched the main
    stage of the process of ending Russia's military presence in Georgia.

    By the main stage I mean that this agreement will close only two
    bases, but the question of the third base [in Gudauta] remains. For
    years, they have been lying to us and telling us that it was closed,
    but this is not so. Just three days ago, an armed group of Abkhaz
    bandits attacked the Russian military base in order to seize weapons.

    Several Abkhaz were wounded by Russians there. This once again shows
    that the base is not closed. It still has quite an active component
    of military servicemen, with their arms and helicopters. Naturally,
    we want the international community to take a principled position,
    so that the actual situation is exposed and this base is closed just
    as the Akhalkalaki and Batumi bases will close," Okruashvili said.

    "In addition, we still have [Russian] peacekeepers, these so-called
    peacekeepers who don't quite fit this title, in Abkhazia and South
    Ossetia. These peacekeepers are not the subject of today's agreement,
    but the Georgian parliament has launched separate procedures with
    respect to them. The Georgian government is working on this issue
    too. I hope that by the end of this year, the procedures with respect
    to at least one of these uncontrolled areas will be finished and the
    peacekeepers will leave South Ossetia," he noted.

    At the end of the interview, when asked about his opinion on the
    Russian import ban on Georgian wine, Okruashvili said: "Generally,
    my attitude towards Russia's current policy towards Georgia is well
    known. However, I am a political official and I do not have the
    right to express my subjective views about them openly. However, it
    is sometimes quite difficult to force middle-ranking or low-ranking
    state officials to treat our neighbours with sympathy when they
    [Russians] are creating such absurd problems for us. I do not want
    someone to think that I am referring to an analogy, but there was a
    time when Georgians, loaded with money they easily made in Moscow,
    would encounter North Caucasian bandit groups while travelling back
    to Georgia. Then a Georgian traveller would be offered to buy a brick
    for 10,000 dollars [implying that otherwise the brick would smash the
    traveller's car]. So, I do not want the Russians to find themselves
    in a situation when they will have to buy every brick from us for
    the price of 100 boxes of wine," Okruashvili said.
Working...
X