RSK
06-03-2005, 01:51 PM
NATO, EU hail Russian pledge on Georgia pull-out
Source: *******
http://www.russiajournal.com/wpics/2003.4.3.soldiers.jpg
BRUSSELS, May 31 (*******) - NATO and the European Union welcomed on Tuesday Russia's pledge to pull its troops out of neighbouring Georgia in 2008, a deal which ended months of rising tension between Moscow and Tbilisi.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Monday that Russia would shut its two Soviet-era military bases in Georgia, whose new pro-Western government called them an "occupation".
"In taking steps to resolve this longstanding dispute, the two sides have ... advanced security in the Caucasus region," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.
De Hoop Scheffer also called in a statement for an early solution to a separate dispute with Moldova over 1,200 Russian peacekeeping troops in the Russian-speaking Dnestr region, which fought a brief war with newly independent Moldova in 1992.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also issued a statement welcoming the Georgia accord.
Some diplomats have suggested the presence of Russian troops in Georgia is an obstacle to Tbilisi's ambition to join NATO, though the alliance insists there is no formal link.
Georgia's European Integration Minister Georgy Baramidze said last week he expected NATO to offer Georgia a so-called membership action plan in 2007. Such plans have been used to strengthen ties between NATO and former eastern bloc countries but do not mean that membership is automatic.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L31138710.htm
Source: *******
http://www.russiajournal.com/wpics/2003.4.3.soldiers.jpg
BRUSSELS, May 31 (*******) - NATO and the European Union welcomed on Tuesday Russia's pledge to pull its troops out of neighbouring Georgia in 2008, a deal which ended months of rising tension between Moscow and Tbilisi.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced on Monday that Russia would shut its two Soviet-era military bases in Georgia, whose new pro-Western government called them an "occupation".
"In taking steps to resolve this longstanding dispute, the two sides have ... advanced security in the Caucasus region," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.
De Hoop Scheffer also called in a statement for an early solution to a separate dispute with Moldova over 1,200 Russian peacekeeping troops in the Russian-speaking Dnestr region, which fought a brief war with newly independent Moldova in 1992.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also issued a statement welcoming the Georgia accord.
Some diplomats have suggested the presence of Russian troops in Georgia is an obstacle to Tbilisi's ambition to join NATO, though the alliance insists there is no formal link.
Georgia's European Integration Minister Georgy Baramidze said last week he expected NATO to offer Georgia a so-called membership action plan in 2007. Such plans have been used to strengthen ties between NATO and former eastern bloc countries but do not mean that membership is automatic.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L31138710.htm