RUSSIA BEGINS MOVING MILITARY EQUIPMENT FROM GEORGIA TO BASE IN ARMENIA

People’s Daily Online, China
May 18 2006

Russia on Thursday started moving military equipment from a base in
Georgia to its Gyumri base in Armenia, said military officials.

Ten trucks from the Akhalkalaki base, along with an armored personnel
carrier and a Georgian military police escort, had reached the Armenian
border, said Col. Vladimir Kuparadze, deputy commander of the Russian
troops in the southern Caucasus.

Russia started the withdrawal earlier this week under an agreement
with the Georgian side last year.

According to the agreement, all heavy weapons and vehicles at the
Georgian base of Akhalkalaki will be pull out by Oct. 15, while
personnel and base property must leave by the end of 2007.

Meanwhile, withdrawal process at the other Russian base in Georgia’s
Black Sea port of Batumi is also to be finished by the end of 2008.