PULLOUT OF RUSSIA’S BATUMI BASE STARTS MAY – TOP ARMY OFFICER

RIA Novosti, Russia
April 12 2007

MOSCOW, April 12 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will begin withdrawing from
its military base in Georgia’s Black Sea port of Batumi in mid-May,
a deputy chief-of-staff of the Russian Army said Thursday.

Lieutenant-General Valery Yevnevich said 14 trains will transport
hardware and ammunition from the Batumi base to Russia by the yearend,
while five more trains will be dispatched to a Russian base in Armenia.

Yevnevich spoke after the Georgian Defense Ministry said earlier
Thursday that a convoy of trucks carrying hardware and engineering
equipment had left Russia’s other Soviet-era base in Georgia,
Akhalkalaki, for Gyumri, in Armenia.

Under an agreement between the Defense Ministries of the two countries,
the Akhalkalaki base will be closed by the end of this year, while
the Batumi base is planned to close before next yearend.

Yevnevich said that all the 14 Russia-bound trains – five in May, four
in June, four in July and one in November – will leave via Azerbaijan,
with which Russia has an agreement on the transit of military cargo.

The five trains bound for the Gyumri base will set off from Batumi
in August (four) and November (one), Yevnevich said.

Six more truck convoys will take the remaining hardware and equipment
from the Akhalkalaki base before the end of 2007, he said.

Last December, Russia completed the withdrawal of its military
garrison from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, handing over control of
its headquarters to Georgia’s Defense Ministry.

Thirteen of the garrison’s 387 personnel remain in Georgia to oversee
the withdrawal of Russia’s two Soviet-era bases.

Georgia’s Western-leaning leadership, which is seeking NATO
membership, is uneasy about Russia’s continued military presence,
and has repeatedly urged Moscow to close its Soviet-era bases.