Russia, Georgia to Hold Another Round of Military Talks

Moscow is getting ready to host a new round of Russian-Georgian talks on military issues: the news was provided by the Georgian foreign ministry and confirmed by the Russian foreign ministry. Talks will involve officials from the two countries' foreign and defence ministries.

The sides will discuss a whole scope of issues dealing with realisation of Istanbul Agreements, specifically the terms of functioning of Russian military bases in Akhalkalaki and Batumi and handover of documents dealing with the facilities at the Gudauta military base to Georgia.

Held at the level of the heads of state commissions on military-and-political co-operation, the eighth round of talks followed an almost 12-month break. The sides had agreed to resume talks during a meeting of experts in December 2002 in Tbilisi.

Talks will be over on Wednesday, February 19th.