The Georgian government has finally lost hope in moving the Russian
military bases out of Georgia. The Russians do not plan on removing
their 62nd Russian military base from the city of Akhalkalak, at least
not for the next 10 years. Instead, the maintenance regiment is slowly
but insistently being added to the units and as a result the seed of
the former division is being planted. Taking into consideration the
Russian stubbornness, the Georgian side has chosen to solve the problem
in a different way. They foresee the creation of a joint anti-terrorist
center in Akhalkalak’s military base which will react immediately in
case of danger. This has encouraged the Armenian community living there
that gets a lot of income from the Russian military base. The creation
of the anti-terrorist base will be included in the Russian-Georgian
contract which will be signed by both sides in 2005.
