MOSCOW (AP)–A top military officer said Thursday that some of the equipment from Russia’s bases in Georgia could be transferred to Armenia–where Moscow also has a military presence.
General Yuri Baluyevsky–chief of the Russian General Staff–said that would help Russia reduce the timeframe for withdrawing the bases to four years–Interfax news agency reported.
"The military bases will be withdrawn from Georgia to Russia. It is not ruled out that some property and military hardware will be deployed in Armenia," he said. Baluyevsky stressed that Russia makes the only principal condition–that Russian servicemen be withdrawn to some territory with developed infrastructure.
Russia and Georgia have been in tense negotiations over the base withdrawal–which Tbilisi insist be complete by the beginning of 2008. The two sides are to hold a fresh round of negotiations on the lingering dispute in Tbilisi on Monday.