2ND TRAIN WITH MILITARY HARDWARE LEAVES RUSSIAN BASE IN GEORGIA

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 17 2007

TBILISI, May 17 (RIA Novosti) – Another train with Russian military
hardware from a Soviet-era military base in Georgia left the former
Soviet republic early Thursday, the Georgian Defense Ministry said.

The ministry said the train had departed from Russia’s 62nd military
base in Akhalkalaki carrying combat support vehicles and trucks. It
is the second train with military equipment to leave Georgia this
year under an agreement Russia and Georgia signed March 31, 2006.

Russian troops and hardware are to completely withdraw from 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 next train is
scheduled to leave Georgia on May 24.

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