4TH TRAIN WITH MILITARY HARDWARE LEAVES RUSSIAN BASE IN GEORGIA

RIA Novosti, Russia
June 15 2006

TBILISI, June 15 (RIA Novosti) – Another train with Russian military
hardware from a Soviet-era military base in Georgia has left the
former Soviet republic according to schedule, the Georgian Defense
Ministry said Thursday.

The ministry said the train had departed from the Black Sea base of
Batumi carrying combat support vehicles and trucks.

Under an agreement Russia and Georgia signed March 31, Russian troops
and hardware are to leave Georgia’s two Soviet-era bases in Akhalkalaki
and Batumi by 2008. The pullout from Akhalkalaki, about 30 kilometers
(19 miles) from the border with NATO member Turkey, is to be completed
by December 2006.

The withdrawal is being monitored by a joint Georgian-Russian
commission set up under the March agreement.

The bulk of Russia’s weapons will return to Russia and the rest of
it will be delivered to a Russian base in Armenia.