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Rumsfeld calls for Russian troop withdrawal from Georgia
Tbilisi, Dec 05: US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asked Russia to withdraw its troops in Georgia after he arrived to show support for the strategic nation`s new leaders less than two weeks after they took power.
Tbilisi, Dec 05: US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asked Russia to withdraw its troops in Georgia
after he arrived to show support for the strategic nation's
new leaders less than two weeks after they took power.
"Russia should fulfill its commitments under the
Istanbul accords to withdraw Russian forces from Georgia,"
Rumsfeld said at a press conference after meeting with
interim President Nino Burjanadze.
"That has been the interest and desire of the government of Georgia," he said.
Under accords reached in Istanbul in 1999, Russia agreed to close two of its bases in Georgia by 2001 and begin talks on pulling out from two others. Negotiations of the withdrawal from the last two bases have been ongoing for the past three years.
Russia still has some 3,000 troops in Georgia that are covered by the agreement and Russian military leaders have said it would be at least another decade before they are withdrawn.
Rumsfeld is the first senior US official to visit the Caucasus nation since president Eduard Shevardnadze was forced from power after mass protests over a parliamentary election that the opposition said were rigged in government's favor.
Bureau Report
"That has been the interest and desire of the government of Georgia," he said.
Under accords reached in Istanbul in 1999, Russia agreed to close two of its bases in Georgia by 2001 and begin talks on pulling out from two others. Negotiations of the withdrawal from the last two bases have been ongoing for the past three years.
Russia still has some 3,000 troops in Georgia that are covered by the agreement and Russian military leaders have said it would be at least another decade before they are withdrawn.
Rumsfeld is the first senior US official to visit the Caucasus nation since president Eduard Shevardnadze was forced from power after mass protests over a parliamentary election that the opposition said were rigged in government's favor.
Bureau Report