TBILISI. May 23 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgia is closely studying the Collective Security Treaty Organization's documents to understand its goals and objectives, Georgian Deputy Defense Minister Gela Bezhuashvili told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
If there are attempts to expand the collective rapid deployment forces by Russian military units stationed in Georgia, Tbilisi "will definitely protest this," he said.
"The two Russian military bases in Batumi and Akhalkalaki are being withdrawn," Bezhuashvili noted.
Commenting on remarks by Collective Security Council Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha on Russia's concerns over increasing NATO influence in Georgia, which he made at a news conference at the Interfax main office on Friday, Bezhuashvili said Tbilisi "is concerned about the presence on its territory of two military bases of a member-country of the Collective Security Treaty Organization."
The organization comprises Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Russia established the collective rapid deployment forces numbering about 1,500 servicemen.