RUSSIA COMPLETES WITHDRAWAL OF MILITARY EQUIPMENT FROM GEORGIAN CAPITAL

The Associated Press
December 14, 2006 Thursday 7:24 PM GMT

Russia completed the withdrawal of all its military equipment from
its Tbilisi garrison Thursday, Russian officials said.

The last of 340 Russian military personnel are to leave the garrison
next week, leaving the Georgian capital free of Russia’s regional
military headquarters for the first time in more than 200 years.

A train convoy carrying more than 300 tons of equipment and cargo set
off for a Russian base in Gyumri, Armenia the fourth and last convoy
carrying materiel from the Tbilisi garrison, the Russian regional
military command said.

Fifteen officers will remain until the closure of two Russian bases,
one in the southern town of Akhalkalaki and the other in the Black Sea
port of Batumi. Georgia and Russia agreed last year, after months of
contentious negotiations, that Russian forces would pull out of the
two bases, which are scheduled to be closed by October 2008.

Relations between the two countries have plummeted in recent months
as Georgia has accused Russia of supporting separatists, and Russia
fears Georgia is moving closer to the West.

Georgian authorities briefly detained four Russian military officers
on spying charges in September, and Moscow retaliated with a transport
and postal blockade and a crackdown on Georgian migrants in Russia.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has said that the decision
to speed up the withdrawal of the Tbilisi base was made because of
tensions with Georgia.