TBILISI. April 19 (Interfax-AVN) - Tbilisi has reaffirmed its proposal for the withdrawal of Russian military bases in Batumi and Akhalkalaki over the next three years, although it "does not rule out further dialogue on this issue after talks are resumed on implementation of the Istanbul accords," Georgian Foreign Minister Irakly Menagarishvili told Interfax.
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Kosovan said that the bases would be pulled out within ten years.
The process of removing these bases can be much shorter, Menagarishvili said.
Since July 2001, Moscow has been "crudely violating" the 1999 agreements on the pullout of Russian military bases from Georgia. The base in Gudauta should have been removed in the summer of 2001, but this has not been done, he said.