Georgia, Russia Find No Compromise on Military Issues

Russian and Georgian officials have failed to narrow the gap on deadlines for closure of the two Russian military bases and transfer of five military facilities deployed in Georgia for the past three years.

Georgian Foreign Minister Irakli Menagharishvili held the eighth round of the negotiations in Moscow on February 18-19.

The disagreement persists regarding the dates of liquidation of the Batumi (Adjarian Autonomous Republic) and Akhalkalaki (South Georgia) Russian military bases, although the 1999 OSCE Istanbul Treaty clearly prescribed the Russian and Georgia sides to reach agreement on the issue before 2001.

The Russian side argues that with current scarce financing it will need 11 years to close the bases down in Batumi and Akhalkalaki. Georgian side insists that 3 years will be quite sufficient for the process.

“Russians justify incompliance with the Istanbul Agreement provisions by the lack of funds. We told them we would contribute financially with support of our foreign friends. But they also want to build a whole new military base in Russia to accommodate these two [closed down] in Georgia, which would require USD 400 million,” said Georgian Foreign Minister Irakli Menagharishvili upon his return from Moscow on February 20.

It seems that, after three years of unsuccessful talks the Georgian side is ready to make certain compromises to steer the negotiations out from the dead end. Tbilisi might consider “different” approaches to the issue of terms of closedown of the bases in Batumi and Akhalkalaki.

“We are ready to offer Russia to disband bases in Georgia step-by-step. If Russians disband Batumi base in three years, we might reconsider terms of liquidation of the Akhalkalaki base,” Revaz Beshidze, director of the Military-Political Department of the Foreign Ministry, said at the news briefing on a February 21.

Along with the Batumi and Akhalkalaki bases, the issue of the Russian military base in Gudauta, which is located in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia, also stirs debate.

Russia pledges that pursuant to the provisions of the 1999 OSCE Istanbul treaty, military equipment has been completely removed from the base and now the facility is used by the Russian peacekeepers, deployed in the Abkhazian conflict zone under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Independent States. However, the Georgian authorities doubt this statement and urge for international monitoring of the military base, with participation of Georgian experts.

“We have information that Russians keep considerable amount of heavy weapons at Gudauta base. This base continues to be a support to the Abkhaz separatists,” Tamaz Nadareishvili, head of the Abkhazian government-in-exile, told Civil Georgia.

Meanwhile, Russia argues that Georgia side must ensure safety of the international monitoring mission. The both sides know that Tbilisi cannot undertake such responsibility on the territory, which is not under its control, thus officials in Tbilisi believe that Russia uses this circumstance to delay the process as long as possible.

At the same time the separatist regime has its own claims regarding the Gudauta base. “If the Russian peacekeepers leave the base, we will take it over,” says Gary Kupalba, deputy defense minister of the self-declared Abkhazia said.
 
Beside the Gudauta, Akhalkalaki and Batumi military bases, Russia also has five other military facilities on the Georgian territory, which must also be handed over to the Georgian Defense Ministry. But there is no progress in this regard as well.

These five facilities are: No 205 Warehouse and Bath in Tbilisi, military sanatorium in Kobuleti, Adjarian Autonomous Republic, No 1 and No 4 military camps, belonging to the Akhalkalaki base and Heavy Armor Factory No 142 in Tbilisi. Experts pay particular attention to the latter. The factory is used to repair Armenian battle-tanks. The fact becomes a source of concern for Georgia’s neighbor and close partner Azerbaijan.

Georgian authorities do not expect that the next, ninth round of the negotiations, which will be held in Tbilisi in April, 2003, to become a breakthrough in talks over the military issues. So far, in the military area, as in many other ones, relations between Georgia and Russia remain stalled.

 By Goga Chanadiri