TBILISI - Georgia`s parliament voted Thursday to give Russia until next January 1 to close two military bases that remain in the former Soviet republic, in a move certain to further damage relations between Tbilisi and Moscow.
By a vote of 158 to 0 and over the objections of top government officials, parliament adopted a motion that says Moscow`s two bases would be considered illegal after the deadline.
In the motion, the lawmakers gave the government until May 15 to draw up a list of measures to go into effect in the event Tbilisi and Moscow are unable by May 1 to agree on "a concrete withdrawal timetable that is well-considered and acceptable to Georgia."
The measures should be designed to curtail activity at the Russian bases and the deputies proposed in particular that Georgian authorities stop issuing visas to Russian military personnel and strictly regulate the movements of those working on Georgian territory.
In a joint statement signed by Russia and Georgia during a 1999 summit of member countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Istanbul, Moscow agreed to close two of four military bases in Georgia and to present a timetable for closure of the remaining two.
Although two bases were shut down, the Russian foreign ministry said last month that Moscow was not bound by any time limit for closure of the remaining two, in the southern region of Akhalkalaki and the western city of Batumi.
On Thursday Russian defence ministry qualified the parliamentary initiative as "counterproductive".
"This problem will not be resolved by pressure, a solution has to be found exclusively at the negotiating table," ministry spokesman Viacheslav Sedov was quoted as saying by Interfax.
Tbilisi has meanwhile accused Moscow of "dragging out the negotiation process" and Georgian lawmakers said they had received no response to compromise proposals made to Russian authorities for closing the remaining two bases.
"It is clear today that the negotiations on withdrawal of Russian forces are at an impasse," the motion adopted by parliament stated. "It is clear that Russia has opted to drag things out."
The motion also charged that Russia was reinforcing its troop numbers in Georgia and was carrying out unauthorized military exercises there. They said Russia owes Georgia up to one billion dollars (750 million euros) for maintenance of the bases, inherited by Russia after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
The move by the Georgian legislature came hours after a senior Russian defense ministry official was quoted as saying that Russia needed another "three to four years" to pull its troops out of Georgia and close the remaining bases there.
"A minimum of three or four years are needed to withdraw the Russian military bases from Georgia," General Anatoly Mazurkevich, head of the ministry`s department for military cooperation, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.
"This is the official position of the leadership of the Russian defense ministry and we will defend this position in the next Russo-Georgian consultations" on the bases, he said.
Around 3,000 Russian military personnel are deployed at the two bases in Georgia.
Relations between Russia and Georgia have become increasingly tense since the election of Georgia`s pro-Western President Mikhail Saakashvili in January 2004.
Negotiations on the status of the bases have been in progress for years but have so far failed to produce an agreement.
03/10/2005 19:25 GMT