"The land has been
allocated, a location identified, and work has started there. We
are awaiting an agreement between the republic and the Russian
Defense Ministry," Sergei Bagapsh told journalists after a meeting
with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
"It [the agreement]
is almost ready. I think it will be signed in a week or two," he
said.
The Abkhaz
president earlier said Russia would have a total of 3,800 troops
deployed in the republic for the next 49 years.
Bagapsh also said
units of Russian border guards will be deployed on Abkhazia's
state border by the beginning of June.
"One more group of
border guards will arrive by that time. By the beginning of June
we plan to finish this process. Russian border guards will assume
duty jointly with Abkhaz border guards," he said.
Russia
signed in late April joint border protection agreements with the
former Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Under the
agreements,
Russia
will guard the Abkhaz and South Ossetian borders, including
maritime frontiers, until both republics form their own border
guard services. The agreements, for an initial period of five
years, can be renewed upon their expiration.
Bagapsh ruled out
the possibility of asking Moscow in the near future to become part
of Russia.
"Why would we
approach
Russia
with such a request so soon when Russia only recently recognized
us as an independent state?" he said in reply to a reporter's
question.
Russia
recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states on
August 26 last year after a five-day war with Georgia, which
attacked South Ossetia to try to regain control of the province,
which had been de facto independent since the early 1990s. |