TBILISI, May 3 (RIA Novosti, Marina Kvaratskhelia) - President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia hopes the prospects for Russia to withdraw its army bases from his country will be settled within a few days-before May 8, what with the intensity of his current paper exchanges with President Vladimir Putin on pullout details.
"We are to seal the matter before May 8," said President Saakashvili as he was addressing a Georgian college and university student audience at Tbilisi's Town Hall today.
"To put up with the Russian bases indefinitely is the last thing Georgia intends to do," he pointed out.
"The latest foreign-ministerial talks made major progress. Now, we are to bring the job to a final success. The Russian base pullout from Georgia is a matter of principle to me," the President emphatically added.
Mr. Saakashvili is not yet sure, he said, whether he will take part in the summitry of CIS heads of state, due in Moscow, May 8, and 60th V-E anniversary galas of the next day.
