TBILISI. Dec 16 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli plans to address Georgian parliament with a report on preparing a possible withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from the Georgian-Ossetian and the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict areas.
"The Georgian prime minister will brief parliament on the government's complying with the parliamentary decree dated October 11 on a possible withdrawal of peacekeeping forces from the South Ossetian and the Abkhaz regions in 2006," Mikhail Machavariani, Deputy Chairman of Georgian Parliament, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
He pointed out that Georgian authorities had not adopted any final decisions so far, thus, peacekeepers could continue their operations in the region as before.
"However, the decision depends on the peace process. If Russia, which we believe and know to be capable of solving many problems, takes an active stance, there will not be any grounds for withdrawing peacekeepers," Machavariani said.
He noted that under the parliamentary decree dated October 11, the Georgian side may demand that the Joint Peacekeeping Force be withdrawn from the Georgian-Ossetian conflict area after February 10, 2006, and the Combined Peacekeeping Force be withdrawn from the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict area after July 1, 2006.
Tskhinvali and Sukhumi are against withdrawing Russian peacekeepers, whom they consider the primary guarantor of non-resumption of armed conflicts.
The Joint Peacekeeping Force was deployed in South Ossetia in 1992, while the Combined Peacekeeping Force was sent to Abkhazia in 1994.