TBILISI. April 14 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Shota Dogonadze has said his country is pressing for the removal of Russian military bases from its soil not because it wants to deploy American ones instead.
"There won't be any foreign military bases on Georgia's territory, and this is the Georgian government's principled position," Dogonadze told Interfax on Sunday when asked whether the defense accord with the U.S., ratified by the Georgian parliament on March 21, could become a legal basis for American military presence in the country.
He explained that the December 2002 agreement only stipulates the presence in Georgia of American military instructors. They are working under a U.S. program for training and equipping four Georgian army battalions.
Dogonadze said he was puzzled as to why the agreement had evoked such a negative response from Russia. "There are no points in this document that would threaten Russia's national interests," the deputy foreign minister stressed.