TBILISI. Feb 21 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgia is ready to consider individual timeframes for the withdrawal of Russian military bases in Batumi and Akhalkalaki.
Revaz Beshidze, chief of the Foreign Ministry's military and political department, said at a news conference in Tbilisi on Friday that the Batumi base should be closed first.
"If Russia closes the Batumi base within three years, Georgia will agree to extend a timeframe for the withdrawal of the Akhalkalaki base," Beshidze said.
He noted that Russia wants to withdraw the Akhalkalaki base first, as the Batumi base has the transport infrastructure necessary for the two bases' withdrawal.
Beshidze mentioned "another option for the closure of the Russia bases in Georgia." Russia "will have one year to withdraw military hardware and weapons from the bases, after which it will be possible to consider other timeframes for their closure," he said.
According to him, Georgia is trying to be flexible at the talks, but it "expects the same from the Russian party."
In particular, Beshidze rejected Russia's proposal to use outside sources for constructing infrastructure in Russia that will be used by servicemen withdrawn from the bases in Georgia. The proposal is inadmissible for Georgia, as well as for any other nation, he said.
"The United States and other donor countries are ready to finance the process of the bases' withdrawal from Georgia, but not the construction of military infrastructure on the Russian territory," Beshidze stressed.
Under obligations assumed at the OSCE summit in Istanbul in 1999, Russia is to withdraw four bases from Georgia. It has handed over the Vaziani base to Georgia and claims to have closed down the Gudauta base. However Georgia demands international monitoring of Russia's compliance with this obligation.