TBILISI. April 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgian Interior Minster Vano Merabishvili has said he would not allow mass protests over the withdrawal of the Russian military base in Akhalkalaki.
"Twenty or twenty-five people have staged a show in front of Russian TV cameras in Akhalkalaki for the second day in a row, pretending to oppose the withdrawal of military hardware from the base. The actors in this show are local residents who served at the Russian base in Akhalkalaki, and we would like to believe that Moscow has nothing to do with this show," Merabishvili said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Georgia will honor all commitments related to the withdrawal of the Russian military bases in Akhalkalaki and Batumi, he said.
"We guarantee that there will be no mass protests by the local population against the withdrawal of the base in Akhalkalaki, but ten, twenty, or fifty people craving destabilization in Georgia can always be found in any region," Merabishvili said.
Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli, who also took part in the press conference, added that "the pullout of the Russian military bases is proceeding on schedule, and this process will continue unchanged."