Georgia's prime minister has reiterated his country's demands for Russia to withdraw its troops from Georgia, amid increasingly bellicose rhetoric between the neighbouring nations.
In an exclusive interview with Emerging Markets, Zurab Nogaideli, said: "We don't want to see any [Russian] bases on our territories. [Georgia's] parliament has passed a resolution to [remove the bases] as soon as possible and the Russians should take this into account." Georgia imposed sanctions on Monday against the bases in a bid to pressure Moscow to speed up the withdrawal.
The Georgians are demanding that the bases, leftover from the Soviet era, are dismantled within two-and-a-half years, but Russia is insisting on at least four years to complete the withdrawal. Yuriy Baluyevskiy, the chief of general staff of the Russian armed forces, quoted Thursday on Radio Russia, said: "It is now essential to work on reducing the time for the withdrawal of the bases from 10 to four years."
The two sides are due to meet tomorrow to discuss the issue, which has increasingly strained relations between Georgia and its bigger neighbour. The new pro-Western leadership in Tbilisi has been keen to move away from Russian influence and sees the
military bases as an unwelcome legacy of Moscow's centuries-old domination. The removal of Russian bases also has political importance for the ruling party: it was one of Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili's key pre-election promises.
"We want to do this in a civilized way, and our preference is to do it through negotiations," said Nogaideli, who was appointed prime minister in February, following the sudden death of his predecessor Zurab Zhvania. The late leader, a key figure in Georgia's rose revolution in 2003 that ousted pro-Russian leader Edvard Shevardnadze, was found dead in an apartment in Tiblisi, apparently poisoned by gas from a faulty heater.
Anti-Georgian hysteria in Russia reached fever pitch last week when Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov warned that his country will take retaliatory measures if the bases are threatened. "We will not sit by and do nothing," he said. Measures limiting visas to Russian soldiers and placing additional controls on the shipment of equipment and cargo to and from the bases were demanded by Georgian lawmakers in a March resolution.
Nogaideli's comments follow Georgia's decision against selling a trunk gas pipeline to Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled energy firm, following opposition to the sale by both Georgian and US authorities. The government instead plumped for US backing for the project. In his visit to Tbilisi last week, US president George Bush promised to provide $200 million to modernize the ailing infrastructure, trumping Gazprom's reported bid of $150 million.
Although the move is seen as a way to limit Russia's influence in the Caucasus region, analysts believe that the decision against the Gazprom sale could prompt the company to take a hardline stance with the Georgian government, which has racked up hefty debts for Russian gas supplies.
Georgia is keen to woo the US administration, which sees the former Soviet state as a key player in its strategy for the broader region. "We are delighted that [George Bush] came here. The message has been very clear," said Nogiadeli, who is also eager to see his country enter the European Union. "A new era is starting for Georgia in its political and economic development."