MOSCOW. Dec 2 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili said her country plans to raise the issue of withdrawing Russian military bases from Georgia at NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
"We will bring up this issue at NATO and the OSCE as, in particular, we have certain obligations in the framework of the OSCE," Zourabichvili told Interfax on Thursday.
Georgian representatives will announce at the OSCE that their country is demanding that all Russian military bases be withdrawn. "By the way, many European partners and the United States share our position," she said.
Russia is well aware of Georgia's stance on this issue, the foreign minister said. "There is no military need for these bases, and Russia has confirmed it. That is why we do not understand why there is no headway on this issue, which is one of the problematic aspects of our bilateral relations," she said.
Brining Russian-Georgian relations back to normal depends to a large extent on the pullout of Russia's bases, Zourabichvili said.
"The deployment of these bases in Georgia is a sign of the past period when relations were guided by the principle of domination. I think that this agreement should be achieved as soon as possible as it will be in the interests of citizens of both Russia and Georgia," she said.
Georgia is ready to step up negotiations with Russia and hopes for "the next round of these talks and further expert consultations," the foreign minister said.
The full version of Zourabichvili's interview will be posted on the www.interfax.ru website on December 2.