TRAIN WITH VEHICLES OF RUSSIAN MILITARY BASE PREPARING FOR DEPARTURE FROM GEORGIA

Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Business and Financial Newswire
May 22, 2006 Monday

The preparation procedures for the departure of the second train with
weapons and materiel of the Russian 62nd military base headquartered
in Akhalkalaki are nearing end.

“The second train will take 17 self-propelled artillery systems
and specialized vehicles to Russia,” Colonel Vladimir Kuparadze,
deputy commander of the Group of Russian Forces in Transcaucasia,
told Interfax-Military News Agency by phone from Tbilisi on Monday.

According to him, the vehicles have been loaded on flat cars and
fixed. Customs procedures are being finalized now.

Kuparadze said that the train of 19 cars will depart on Tuesday
morning. “The second train, as well as all the other 20 remaining,
will travel to Russia through Azerbaijan in compliance with the
agreements reached between Russia and the country,” he said.

He added that a convoy of vehicles will depart from Akhalkalaki to the
102nd base in Gyumri, Armenia, on Tuesday. “The convoy will include
ten trucks and an escort armored personnel carrier. It will carry
part of the military equipment of the 62nd base to Gyumri,” he said.

The first train with Russian equipment and materiel was dispatched
from Georgia to Russia on May 15.