Under their terms of agreements signed on March 31, Russia will withdraw from a base in the southern region of Samtskhe-Javakheti by the end of 2007 and from its other base -- in the Black Sea port of Batumi -- by the end of the following year.
The Georgian government has welcomed the agreement. But the opposition fears Moscow will be able to maintain a military presence through a planned Georgian-Russian antiterrorism center in Batumi.
Georgia's Foreign Ministry says that the agreement only mentions the possibility of such a center and that it may not be set up.
(Civil Georgia, Novosti-Gruziya)
RFE/RL Caucasus Report
RFE/RL Caucasus Report
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