WITHDRAWAL OF AKHALKALAKI BASE STARTED

Prime News Agency, Georgia
May 3 2006

Tbilisi. May 03 (Prime-News) – The first file of trucks left the
Russian military base in Akhalkalaki on the Tuesday-Wednesday
overnight.

As Prime-News was told by the representatives of the regional
administration of Samtskhe-Javakheti, the file will arrive in the
Tsalka railway station to be re-leaded. The first lot of military
equipment is to leave Georgia by May 15th.

The decision to traffic the equipment in nights was not accidental
and it aims at prevention of possible provocations. However the local
residents staged a protest rally in Akhalkalaki on Wednesday.

The local residents of Armenian origin are largely employed in the
military base and they say that planned withdrawal of base leaves
them without earnings.