Georgia Delays Signing Agreement on Russian Bases

The talks between representatives of the Russian and Georgian Foreign and Defense Ministries on fixing the dates for the pullout of the two Russian military bases from Georgian soil "are nearing completion", said Georgian Foreign Minister, Salome Zurabishvili, May 24.

Madam Foreign Minister told journalists that "the parties have made some headway towards the final stage of the talks, as we have succeeded in clearing the text of the forthcoming agreement from secondary issues and in highlighting the important ones".

The current round of the talks that began in Tbilisi on Monday, will be continued. The Georgian minister has not ruled out that in order to put the final touches to the text of the agreement she "would have to come to Moscow to meet with Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov". As yet, the parties have failed to work out any time schedule for the withdrawal of the Russian bases from Georgia.