MOSCOW: Moscow and Tbilisi agreed on Monday on the pullout by the end of 2008 of Russia’s last two Soviet-era military bases in Georgia, signalling a resolution to a long-running and bitter dispute between the two neighbours.

“The final pullout will be finished during 2008,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks in Moscow with his Georgian counterpart, Salome Zurabishvili.

“We have taken an important and constructive step. We have achieved our goal,” Mr Zurabishvili told journalists.

The agreement marked a breakthrough after years of rancorous negotiations over the two bases, which were once part of Soviet defences on the southwestern flank with NATO, but have recently become a bargaining chip in Moscow’s fight to retain influence in the Caucasus.—AFP