Thank you Mr. Chairman.

The United States believes strongly that the commitments that we undertake to one another within the OSCE are very important, especially those that are made at the highest political level.  We take them seriously and, like others around this table, expect them to be complied with.  We have been especially consistent in calling for adherence to all of the commitments made at Istanbul, with particular focus on those which have time limits or deadlines associated with them.

During the holiday period just passed, the deadline associated with one of those commitments came and passed. The United States is pleased to note that the Russian Federation met the deadline agreed to in Istanbul for the elimination of Treaty-limited equipment (TLE) in excess of one basic temporary deployment under the CFE Treaty in Georgia.  In all, Russia has withdrawn 35 tanks, 313 armored combat vehicles (ACVs), and 27 artillery pieces, and destroyed an additional 24 tanks, 90 ACVs and 2 artillery pieces in order to meet this deadline.

We welcome the successful completion of this phase of the Istanbul commitments.  We commend the hard work shown by the Russian Federation and Georgia in achieving this and we note with satisfaction the high degree of transparency with which this withdrawal was carried out.

We expect similar seriousness of purpose in our remaining Istanbul commitments.  Issues related to the future use of Vaziani and Gudauta military bases remain to be resolved, as do a range of issues pertaining to the longer-term presence of Russian forces in Batumi and Akhalkalaki.  In Moldova, we expect accelerated progress in withdrawing equipment in accordance with the timelines set at Istanbul.  The United States and the international community, we believe, are prepared to help. 

Mr. Chairman, regrettably other aspects of Russian relations with Georgia have been less constructive.  In this forum, the United States has raised concerns about the imposition of a visa regime that could compromise Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

And, as many of you know, we also expressed our concern in Washington last week about a January 1 interruption of gas supplies to Georgia.  While there has been a resumption in supply, the prospect of further cutoffs, as early as January 14, appears to be a real possibility.

We want to encourage Russian officials to resolve this dispute in a manner that respects the commercial commitments undertaken by Russian gas suppliers and that avoids any further interruption in the gas supplies that millions of Georgians depend upon for their heat and electricity.
Mr. Chairman, these are serious issues and we will return to them at a future meeting.  But the withdrawals which took place over the turn of the year were a job very well done and we believe should be recognized as such.

Thank you.