TBILISI/BATUMI. Dec 23 (Interfax-AVN) - The Gonio proving range in Georgia's autonomous region of Adzharia is of interest for the Georgian Defense Ministry, Chief-of-Staff Dzhoni Pirtskhalaishvili said on Monday.
The proving range currently operated by a Russian military base "may be used by Georgia for holding exercises, including in the framework of NATO's Partnership for Peace program," Pirtskhalaishvili told Interfax-Military News Agency.
Nevertheless, our main goal for the moment is the soonest withdrawal of Russian bases from Georgian territory, he said.
The chief-of-staff admitted that claims for the proving range will be groundless as long as the 12th Russian military base is operating in Adzharia.
A high-ranking official of the base's command told Interfax- AVN that "Russian military are actively using the Gonio proving range for live firing and exercises in driving."
"Georgian military have been showing interest in the proving range for a long time," the official said.
"Yet in 2002, the Georgian Defense Ministry planned to hold an exercise in the framework of a NATO program here, but Georgian military failed to get a permission for it and transferred the maneuvers to the former Russian military base in Vaziani that had been handed over to Georgia by that time," he stressed.
The proving range's location makes it possible for using it in naval assault exercises, the official noted.
"As long as Russian military are based in Adzharia, they will own the proving range," he said.
Georgia houses two Russian bases at the moment, one in Adzharia's Batumi and the other in Akhalkalaki in the Samtskhe- Dzhavakheti region. The bases in Gudauta (the breakaway region of Abkhazia) and Vaziani (a Tbilisi suburb) were closed in accordance with decisions of the OSCE summit in Istanbul. Talks on the future of the other two bases are underway. Georgia wants them withdrawn in three to four years, while Russia demands 11 years for the withdrawal.