RUSSIAN MILITARY BASE WITHDRAWAL FROM GEORGIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L TBILISI 000996

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV GG
SUBJECT: RUSSIAN MILITARY BASE WITHDRAWAL FROM GEORGIA
RESUMES

Classified By: Ambassador John F. Tefft, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: Russia appears ready to complete its
withdrawal from its military base in Akhalkalaki and to
finish removing all heavy equipment from its base in Batumi
in 2007. On April 13, the first of five convoys of Russian
arms and equipment left the Russian military base in
Akhalkalaki for the Russian 102nd military base in Gyumri,
Armenia. According to George Zakarashvili, Director of the
Russia Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
Russians are withdrawing their personnel and equipment ahead
of schedule, and are on target to close the Akhalkalaki base
by July 1, 2007. Withdrawal of 13 trainloads of heavy
equipment from Batumi to Russia is scheduled to begin in
mid-May and be completed by August 23, 2007. Final
withdrawal of the remaining personnel and equipment from
Batumi will happen in 2008. The status of the remaining
Russian base at Gudauta, in the breakaway province of
Abkhazia, remains unclear, and Zakarashvili said that
negotiations between Russia and Georgia on the issue have
broken off since last year. End Summary.

Russia ahead of schedule
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2. (C) Zakarashvili told Poloff on April 26 that Russia was
ahead of schedule in its base withdrawal activities.
Akhalkalaki will be closed by July 1, he said, which is far
ahead of the stated deadline of October 1. Three vehicle
convoys of equipment have already left Akhalkalaki and two
remain. He also said that the withdrawal of heavy equipment
from Batumi will be complete by August 23, which is also
ahead of schedule. He said that the one positive outcome
from the recent tensions between Georgia and Russia has been
the Russian acceleration of the base withdrawal process.

Gudauta status still unresolved
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3. (C) Zakarashvili said that the GoG does not consider the
Russian base at Gudauta to be closed, contrary to Russian
assertions, and wants to have regular, unannounced
international monitoring trips to the base. He said the GoG
was confident that the base at Gudauta was an active military
base and not a CIS peacekeeping base, and would like an
international monitoring team to confirm this. Negotiations
with Russia over the status of the base broke off last year,
he said, and have not resumed. When asked if he thought the
Gudauta issue could be resolved independently of a political
solution to Abkhazia, he replied that the closure of Gudauta
was a Russian obligation under the 1999 Istanbul Commitments
and thus was a separate issue.

Comment
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4. (C) Russia appears on track to deliver on its commitment
to fully withdraw from its base in Akhalkalaki by the end of
2007 and from its base in Batumi by 2008, however the Russian
base at Gudauta remains an issue. It is unclear at this time
whether recent comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin
and Foreign Minister Lavrov on Russia's possible withdrawal
from the Conventional Forces Europe (CFE) treaty will affect
future withdrawals of Russian equipment and personnel from
its bases in Georgia. Except for Gudauta, there remains
little left to remove.

TEFFT