Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said on March 8 that endorsement of a resolution declaring the Russian military bases in Georgia illegal would be inappropriate at present
?I, as well as the President [Mikheil Saakashvili], was not aware of this [draft resolution]. It was not planned to discuss this resolution at the session this week,? Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze told reporters.
The decision to discuss draft resolution against military bases was made on March 7 during a meeting of the parliamentary bureau that plans the schedule for the upcoming week in the legislature. Nino Burjanadze, who returned from an unofficial visit to Germany late on March 7, did not attend the session of the parliamentary bureau, which decided to discuss the draft resolution on March 9.
She said that adoption of this kind of resolution would hinder talks between Georgia and Russia that are currently aimed at setting a timeframe for the withdrawal of these bases.
During his visit in February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Georgian counterpart Salome Zourabichvili agreed to intensify talks over the military bases and outline concrete proposals over the timeframe and terms of pullout within two months, before May 9 when President Saakashvili plans to visit Moscow.