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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Georgian Parliament Votes To Expel Russian Peacekeepers |
| 2006-07-22 |
| Georgia's parliament has called for the withdrawal of Russian peacekeeping troops from the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. They called for the Russian troops to be replaced by an international force. The resolution, supported by 144 members of parliament, calls on the government to act immediately, but it is not binding. It was passed mainly with the votes of parliamentarians loyal to President Mikhail Saakashvili. Seventy of the 214 deputies did not vote. Abkhazia and Ossetia have run their own affairs since breaking away from the control of Georgia's central government in wars in the early 1990s. Georgia accuses Russia and the peacekeepers of siding with the separatists. |
| Posted by:Steve White |