NEW COMMANDER OF RUSSIAN FORCES IN TRANSCAUCASUS TAKES UP POST

Interfax-AVN military news agency website

24 Aug 05

Moscow, 24 August: Maj-Gen Andrey Popov has been appointed commander
of the Group of Russian Forces in Transcaucasus [GRFT] and started
carrying out his duties, the deputy commander of the GRFT, Col Vladimir
Kuparadze, told Interfax-AVN news agency on Wednesday [24 August]
by telephone from Tbilisi.

“Before his appointment as commander, Maj-Gen Popov was the
chief-of-staff of the GRFT and is fully aware of the situation,”
Kuparadze said.

Before Popov’s appointment, the GRFT was commanded by Maj-Gen Aleksandr
Bespalov. However, the Georgian authorities have not granted him
a Georgian entry visa and hid couldn’t come to Tbilisi, where the
headquarters of the GRFT are situated. Since his appointment in March
this year, Bespalov was in Armenia, where the 102nd Russian military
base is stationed in the town of Gyumri.

Maj-Gen Bespalov has been appointed deputy commander of the troops
of the North Caucasian Military District.