SHEVARDNADZE HOLDS OUT UNLIKELY DEAL ON BASES WITH RUSSIA.

Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze yesterday told a Tbilisi gathering of refugee Georgian deputies of the Abkhazian parliament that Russia "can have its military bases in Georgia if the country’s territorial unity is restored… We have already agreed with the Russian side that the [1994] agreement on Russian bases in Georgia will be ratified if our territorial integrity is reestablished." (Itar-Tass, Interfax, September 26). Shevardnadze has often held out to Moscow a deal along these lines, but recently he has been especially outspoken in warning that Tbilisi will reorient its policy if Moscow fails to heed those proposals. A day prior to Shevardnadze’s speech the Russian Defense Ministry’s daily, Krasnaya zvezda, warned that "quarreling with Moscow is fraught with serious consequences for Georgia." (Krasnaya zvezda, September 25)

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