TBILISI, July 25 (AVN) - A Georgian expert group is about to leave for Germany to study that country's experience in withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory, German Ambassador Wolf-Dietrich Vogel said on Wednesday.
Vogel, who is rounding up his three-year stay in Georgia, spoke at a meeting with Georgian Minister of State Georgy Arsenishvili.
Berlin is monitoring the withdrawal of Russian military bases from Georgia that started in accordance with decisions of the OSCE summit in Istanbul, Vogel said. The German government is studying possible sources of financing for this process and forms of Germany's involvement in it, he added.
The British government came up with the initiative to set up a special fund to finance the Russian bases withdrawal from Georgia in spring this year.
"It is no secret that Germany gained considerable experience in conducting negotiations on the Russian troops withdrawal from the country's territory in the late 1980s. As a result, Germany coped with the task quite quickly, but it cost a lot to German tax payers," the ambassador said. The German federal government is ready to share the experience with Georgia in order to reduce the cost of the process.
Russia was to withdraw its bases from the Georgian villages of Vaziani and Gudauta by July 1 this year. However it failed to complete the Gudauta base withdrawal due to discontent of the local authorities and people. The talks on withdrawal terms of two more bases, the 12th in Batumi and the 62nd in Akhalkalaki, are underway.