(Tbilisi, June 19, Civil Georgia) – Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Valeri Loshchinin told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti on June 19, that there is no reason for the second monitoring of Gudauta military base in Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia .
A team of four OSCE military experts on June 15 conducted a two-hour visit to the Gudauta base. At the 1999 OSCE Istanbul summit Russia undertook to pull out its troops and military hardware from the strategic base till summer 2001.
Georgian side claims that Russia has not fulfilled its commitment so far, while the Russian officials say troops and military hardware is already pulled out from Gudauta.
The monitoring of the base at Gudauta proved that Russia has already complied with its commitment, Loshchinin said.
Georgian side did not participate in the monitoring of the base and demands to repeat the procedure. Abkhazian side is against Georgia’s participation.
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