TBILISI. May 26 (Interfax-AVN) - Tbilisi and Moscow, negotiating the withdrawal of Russian military bases, are yet to coordinate several issues, pertaining to withdrawal stages, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
It noted that the Georgian-Russian negotiations, conducted in Tbilisi on Monday-Tuesday, had brought the stances of both sides considerably closer. "Only several issues, pertaining to stages of withdrawing Russian military bases from Georgia, remain to be settled," it said.
The Foreign Ministry also pointed out that the upcoming round of Georgian-Russian talks would be devoted to these very issues.
Merab Antadze, Georgian deputy foreign minister and head of the Georgian delegation to the negotiations, told reporters that the first stage envisioned withdrawing the Russian base from Akhalkalaki and then from Batumi.
He did not rule out the feasibility of establishing a joint Georgian-Russian anti-terrorist center in Batumi.