"Russia's neutrality is absolutely acceptable for us. This is a civilised form of foreign military forces' presence on the territory of another state," the Georgian minister told Russian reporters.
He added that earlier Russia's military presence had threatened Georgia.
As for Russia's present-day position, the minister repeated that it was more than welcome in Tbilisi.
"This is a good basis for the decision to withdraw the bases," he remarked. The minister added that the timeframe of the Russian military withdrawal from Georgia was yet to be determined.
As for the bilateral military interaction, Mr. Bezhuashvili stressed that Georgia was ready to develop relations with Russia as a neighbour and a friendly state. "My goal as a minister is to take the 'threat' label off the Russian military bases in Georgia," said the Georgian defence minister.
He noted that the Georgian side was ready to eliminate all obstacles facing the Russian bases in terms of their provision and the personnel rotation for the period of their operation in Georgia.
