Russia will sign a deal to open military bases in the Moscow-backed rebel region of Abkhazia within the next two weeks, the region's separatist leader was quoted as saying today, according to Reuters. "It (the agreement) is already ready. I think it will be signed in a couple of weeks," Abkhazia's self-styled President Sergei Bagapsh was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies after meeting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in nearby Sochi. "The land has been set aside ... the work has already started there. We are only waiting for the agreement to be signed between the republic (of Abkhazia) and the Russian Defence Ministry," RIA news agency quoted Bagapsh as saying. Russia recognised Abkhazia and another rebel region, South Ossetia, as independent states last year after a war with Georgia, though most of the world considers the provinces parts of Georgia. Abkhaz officials have said Russia will open a naval base in Ochamchire -- known as Ochamchira by Abkhaz separatists -- and a former airborne troops base in the town of Gudauta.
