Russia to withdraw most of heavy hardware from Georgia to its own territory

NTV Mir, Moscow
31 Mar 06

[Presenter] Russia will withdraw its heavy hardware from Georgia
by the end of 2007. Moscow and Tbilisi signed an agreement in Sochi
today, according to which the Georgian side will take upon itself the
obligation to provide to Russia the use of its air space during this
period. It is also being planned to transport arms by rail.

The Russian military will have to withdraw all property from the
bases of Batumi and Akhalkalaki, subject to weather conditions,
no later than by 31 December 2007.

The document was signed by Georgian deputy defence minister [Mamuka
Kudava] and the commander-in-chief of the Russian Ground Troops
[Aleksey Maslov].

[Maslov 09:0922-09:0954] Most of the hardware and weapons will be
withdrawn to the territory of the Russian Federation. Part of the
hardware will be moved to the territory of Armenia to complete the
sets of hardware there – this is mostly to do with equipment and
vehicles. But I think that everything that was decided in the [1999]
Istanbul agreement, we have fulfilled to the letter.