It will be lamented by some extreme apologists for Russian imperialism, but the rest of us will consider it a bit of good news that the Russian government has just announced that they have agreed to withdraw their troops from Georgia.
As reported by Interfax, Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili sees the agreement as a step peaceful resolution of conflicts in the region:
The two countries’ agreement on the bases may help settle the Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Ossetian conflicts, the minister said. “It is not immediately linked to the process of settling these conflicts, but it is obvious that changing the atmosphere and defusing tensions in Georgian-Russian relations will act as a positive factor for resolving all the other issues, which include settling the conflicts,” Zourabichvili said.
It isn’t quite clear why it will take the Russians four years to withdraw 3,000 troops, although the official reason is that “it could take up to four years to build accommodation to house the servicemen who would be withdrawn.” (No doubt Russia’s interests in Abkhazia and other matters were more important reasons for the delay than the cost of building housing on Russian soil for 3,000 troops.)
On this Memorial Day we can all hope that we will soon hear about plans for withdrawal of American bases from Iraq. And even with the need to defeat the terrorists who are massacring innocents in that country, it’s possible that it will be before the date set by the Russian government for withdrawal of its troops from Georgia.