President Mikheil Saakashvili held a briefing today and made an announcement on the withdrawal of Russian bases from the Georgian territory.

President Saakashvili discussed the recently held negotiations between the Georgian and Russian Foreign Ministers stressing that it is not within the interest of neither Georgia nor Russia to have bases on the Georgian territory, which hinders rather than promotes the relationship between the two countries. The President said that he considers every illegitimate influence impossible and expressed his wish to solve this issue step by step in a civilized way. "This issue has to be solved by means of negotiations and dialogue, by taking into account the interest of every person," the President said.

Mikheil Saakashvili mentioned the topic of antiterrorist program, emphasizing that it should be more profound, coordinated and that there should be a more intense cooperation with Russian within this sphere and mentioned that despite the intensive negotiations an agreement has not been reached as of yet. "We discussed this topic during the meeting of the Council of Defense. At this point, in Georgia, specifically in Abkhazia and other country regions, the Russian military contingencies are the last remnants of the Soviet Union," the President said, though emphasizes that a civilized, diplomatic solution shall be ready in the nearest future.

Considering this situation, Mikheil Saakashvili believes it is impossible to go to Moscow on May 9th. At the same time, he congratulated everyone, including the Russian citizens, with the 60th anniversary of the victory over fascism. According to Mikheil Saakashvili his Russian colleague understood the viewpoint of the Georgian side well.

Office of the Presidency