Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized Georgia on Sunday for what he called "a provocative act" of denying entry visas to Russian servicemen withdrawing equipment from its military bases there.

Georgia promised to assist Russia's pullout process, particularly through issuing visas to servicemen preparing the pullout, but it suddenly refused to issue entry visas and demanded signing a technical accord, Lavrov said in an interview with RTR television.

"I think this is a provocative act," Lavrov said.

Russia and Georgia agreed this issue would be purely technical when the two countries signed an agreement on the pullout of Russian bases, he said.

Russia inherited four military bases in Georgia from the Soviet Union and has withdrawn two bases. It struck a deal with Georgia in May to pull out the remaining two bases by the end of 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2005)