In the course of the Georgian-Russian talks over the terms and conditions of withdrawal of Russian military bases that are still in the Georgian territory, the Georgian party has taken into account the interests of Azerbaijan, which protests against transit of Russian arms to Armenia, reported Regnum news agency. As reported by Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili, in the course of the Georgian-Russian talks the Russian party insisted on inclusion of an item on withdrawal of the bases to Armenia, however the Georgian party “did not cede it” and resorted to “last concessions” over the terms of withdrawal of the bases to rule out such an item. As Zurabishvili explained, the Russian party insisted on the stationing of the bases in Armenia motivating it additional time is necessary to move these to Russia via the Black Sea. “We agreed to it exactly for them not to be able to tell us they had to withdraw bases in Gyumri, as you did not agree to additional time,” the Georgian FM said. “Thus, we did all we could for the bases to be withdrawn to Russia,” she noted. As noted by S. Zurabishvili, now “if a part is withdrawn in the Gyumri direction, it depends not on us, but a decision of Russia.” In the Georgian FM’s words, she has discussed it with her Azeri counterpart during the ceremony of opening the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline held in Baku May 25. “Our explanations are understandable and acceptable to Azerbaijanis,” S. Zurabishvili noted. “Azerbaijan sending a note to Russia and not to us is very correct,” she added. As reported earlier, rail echelon of 15 cars loaded with military equipment and ammunition withdrawn from the Russian base in Batumi arrived in Armenia today. According to data available, ammunition, chemical processing appliance and antiaircraft emplacements are transported.
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