MOSCOW. March 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgia is ready to provide economic assistance to help the redeployment of Russian military bases from its territory, even though this is not part of its international obligations, Georgian State Minister for Separatist Conflicts Giorgi Khaindrava told Interfax.
On Tuesday Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters that $250-300 million would been needed to pull Russian military bases out of Georgia.
"What I want to say is that Georgia is not so rich that it can afford such expenses, and frankly it would not be proper to ask us to deal with this issue because no one asked us anything when these troops were brought in," Khaindrava said.
"We are ready to participate in the process together with our European colleagues, friends and international organizations in order to assist the withdrawal technically and economically," he said.