On April 13 the Georgian Parliament ratified base pullout and military transit agreements with Russia. Georgian officials say that although the agreement on the military bases’ withdrawal must also be ratified by the Russian Parliament, this intrastate procedure cannot become a reason that might hinder the pullout process, which should be completed in a course of 2008.

The authorities and lawmakers from the ruling National Movement party hailed the agreement as a “huge success” for Georgia, but the opposition has already slammed it as “worthless” and warned that it may pose a threat to the country’s national security.

Both of the agreements – one on the modalities and timeframe of the Russian military bases’ withdrawal from Batumi and Akhalkalaki and another on military transit, which gives Russia access to its base in Gyumri, Armenia via Georgia – were signed by Georgian First Deputy Defense Minister Mamuka Kudava and Commander of the Russian Land Forces Alexey Maslov in the Russian Black Sea resort town of Sochi on March 31.

The agreements were presented to the parliamentary session for ratification by Deputy Foreign Minister Merab Antadze on April 13.

The parliamentary hearings were held in the absence of the opposition lawmakers who have been boycotting parliamentary sessions since March 31 in protest to the authorities’ policies in various fields.

Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said before the hearings that discussion of these agreements was of “crucial importance” for the legislative body and called on the opposition MPs to return to the Parliament chamber. But the opposition, which slammed the agreements, formulated their concerns over the issue at a news conference on the same day and called on the parliamentary majority to refrain from ratifying the treaties.

The opposition lawmakers said that they mainly oppose the provision of the treaty on bases pullout that says that an agreement should be elaborated as soon as possible on setting up a joint Georgian-Russian anti-terrorist center with the use of part of the personnel and equipment currently deployed at the Russian military base in Batumi, Adjara Autonomous Republic.

“We ask why it is necessary to legalize the presence of a GRU [Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate] unit in Batumi, which is in the proximity of a NATO member state [Turkey] and how it will be reflected on our national interests,” MP Ivliane Khaindrava of the Republican Party said at a news conference on April 13.

“I call on the parliamentary majority to refrain from ratifying this absolutely worthless agreement, which the authorities and parliamentary majority try to claim as a huge success, which is not true,” leader of the Conservative Party MP Koba Davitashvili said at a news conference.

The possible creation of a joint anti-terrorist center was also discussed during the parliamentary hearings. Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Merab Antadze, who presented the agreement to Parliament, downplayed opponents' concerns.

Article 20 of the agreement reads: “the Parties [Russia and Georgia], at the earliest possible time, shall complete the elaboration of the Agreement on the Foundation and Functioning of the Georgian-Russian Antiterrorist Center and shall prepare it for signing. A previously agreed-upon part of the personnel, material-technical resources and infrastructure of the Russian military base in Batumi shall be used for the benefit of the aforesaid center.”

Deputy Foreign Minister Antadze told parliamentarians that “commitment to negotiate with Russia over this issue does not automatically imply that this anti-terrorist center will be created.”

“Talks on this issue will continue if Russia pushes it,” Antadze said and added that Russia has so far been “passive” over the issue.

The final article of the agreement, concerning the dates of the treaty’s enforcement also caused certain controversy not only among the Georgian parliamentarians, but in the Russian State Duma, lower house of Parliament, as well.

“The present Agreement shall be provisionally used from the date of its signing and shall enter into force upon the exchange of notifications on the fulfillment of necessary intrastate procedures by the Parties,” the agreement on bases’ pullout reads.

Some Georgian lawmakers were concerned that Russia could use “intrastate procedures,” which is ratification of the agreement by the Russian Parliament, as a pretext for dragging out the withdrawal process.

“This provision, that the agreement “shall be provisionally used from the date of its signing” was included in the agreement after the Georgian side’s insistent demand in order to rule out the possibility of [the Russian side's] dragging out the [withdrawal] process under the pretext that it is not ratified [by the Russian Parliament]. Hence, from a legal point of view even if this agreement is never ratified [by the Russian Parliament], Russia has an obligation to fulfill the provisions of the agreement,” Deputy Foreign Minister Antadze explained at the parliamentary hearings.

The Russian Embassy in Tbilisi also said that despite the fact that the treaty needs to be ratified, the launch of its implementation is envisaged even before the end of intrastate procedures – a position which has triggered criticism from some Russian parliamentarians.

MP Konstantin Zatulin of pro-Kremlin United Russia party and a member of the State Duma’s Committee on CIS affairs, told Georgian journalists on April 12 that the Russian executive authorities are violating “procedural norms and rules” by ignoring the Parliament in regard to the treaty on bases’ withdrawal from Georgia.

Parliamentary hearings on another agreement, involving the terms of Russian military transit via Georgia, were held without any debates in the Georgian Parliament.

Speaking about this agreement Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Merab Antadze said that the signing of this agreement was “a compromise and an expression of Georgia’s good will.”

“This agreement is mainly in the interest of our neighbors – Russia and Armenia... The Georgian side has the right to withdraw from the agreement within six months if Russia’s military transit poses certain threat to the Georgian side’s interests,” he added.