IS U.S. INTERESTED IN RUSSIAN BASES PULLOUT FROM GEORGIA?

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TBILISI, January 13th, 2004 (RIA Novosti -Georgia correspondent Georgy Kupatadze) - The United States is ready to offer assistance in Russian bases' pullout from Georgia, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Lynn Pascoe said at a press conference in Tbilisi on January 13.

In particular, when asked whether the US would finance the pullout of Russian bases from Georgia in case a relevant agreement is reached between Russia and Georgia, Lynn Pascoe said the US did so before and would do it again.

Within the OSCE, a country's troops should not be stationed at a place where they are unwelcome, said Lynn Pascoe.

He added that in line with its obligations assumed at the Istanbul summit of the OSCE (1999), Russia was to withdraw two bases from Georgia in 2000 and set the deadline for pulling out the remaining two bases.

Two bases have been withdrawn, but there is no progress with the other two, said the US official.

Moscow and Tbilisi still disagree on the timeframe of the withdrawal. Moscow refuses to accept Tbilisi's proposal to pull out the Russian bases within three years. This is what first Deputy Chief of the Russian General Staff Yuri Baluyevsky said at his talks with Georgian Foreign Minister Tedo Dzhaparidze on January 8th, 2004. Russia has firmly declared that the Georgian plan of the Russian bases' withdrawal from Batumi and Akhalkalaki is unfeasible.

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