MOSCOW. Nov 19 (Interfax-AVN) - All the Russian paratroopers guarding the facilities of the former 50th military base will have been supplanted by rifle infantrymen from the North Caucasus military district by March 2002, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense told Interfax-Military news Agency on Monday.
The number of the servicemen is not liable to changes, the spokesman added. Some 600 paratroopers are now guarding the facilities of the former military base in Gudauta.
The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a complaint, with the subject matter being Russia's alleged reluctance to honor the Istanbul OSCE Summit commitments to pull out the Gudauta base from Abkhazia. The Georgian side considers no Russian servicemen are to be stationed at the Gudauta base and demands Russia should explain the reason for the 600 Russian soldiers and officers of the CIS Collective Peacekeeping Forces to stay in Gudauta.
The Georgian diplomats claimed that the Russian side violated the mandate of the CIS Collective Peacekeeping Forces.