Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday Russia will take measures to protect its military bases in Georgia if their security is threatened, the Interfax news agency reported.

"If any steps are taken that threaten the bases -- I mean personnel, security guarantees, not to mention the possibility of weapons getting into foreign hands -- I assure you we won't remain idle," Lavrov said in the State Duma, responding to a Georgia announcement earlier that threatened a forced closure of Russian military bases there.

Earlier in the day, Georgian parliamentary speaker Nino Burdzhanadze said if negotiations between the two sides fail to make progress, Georgia's parliament would take action to force theRussian bases to close by Jan. 1, 2006, as stipulated in an earlier parliament resolution.

The parliament passed a resolution in March urging the government to demand closure of the military bases by Jan. 1, 2006if the two sides fail again to agree on a timetable for the pullout by May 15.

The resolution also demanded financial and ecological damages from Russia that may amount to hundreds of millions of US dollars.

"We won't be blackmailed and yield to internal political pressure in Georgia," Lavrov said.

The Russian foreign minister said talks on the future of the bases will continue and Tbilisi has got "all the constructive proposals" from Russia.

Russia still has two military bases in Georgia after closing another two under an agreement reached in 1999. Moscow has insisted it needs four years to complete the withdrawal while Tbilisi says it must be finished before January 2008.

Source: Xinhua