Eduard Shevardnadze: U.S. Does Not Intend to Set up Military Bases in Georgia

Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze asserts that the United States does not intend to set up its military bases in Georgia. He spoke about it at a press conference in Tbilisi on Monday. The ratification of the Georgian-American agreement on military co-operation does not pose any danger to either Russia or Georgia, he assured.

However, this far-reaching military agreement has already caused great anxiety and was rated in the Russian parliament as an unfriendly act on the part of Georgia with regard to Russia.

According to Shevardnadze, Georgia's foreign policy should combine the rapprochement with the European Union and the USA, and joining NATO and close co-operation with Russia. The President believes that the course of the Georgian state should be aimed at "democratic values, European orientation and integration into the Euro-Atlantic area, rapprochement with the European Union and the United States and, finally, joining NATO, but at the time it must be aimed at close co-operation with democratic Russia, the creation and preservation of the system of mutually advantageous co-operation with Russia." Eduard Shevardnadze does not see any contradictions in this course.