ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
July 5, 2007 Thursday 06:58 AM EST
39 units of military hardware depart for Russia from Batumi base
A rail train with 39 units of military hardware and property headed
for Russia on Thursday from the Russian military base in Batumi,
Itar-Tass learnt by phone from a spokesman of the Russian base
command in Batumi. The total weight of cargo is around 900 tonnes.
All the hardware and property had been brought in good time to the
cargo rail station on the outskirts of Batumi and loaded into 35
wagons of the train which pulled off from the station last night. The
train will cross the Georgian-Azerbaijan border this afternoon and
then will continue the trip to Russia via Azerbaijan.
According to the spokesman of the base command, it is the eighth
train with hardware and property from Batumi this year. Another three
trains will be dispatched this year to Russia and four – to Armenia,
to the Russian base in Gyumri. In compliance with the
Georgian-Russian understandings, the Batumi base will be closed down
by October 1, 2008.
As for the Russian base in Akhalkalaki, southern Georgia, all
facilities of the base were handed over to the Georgian Defence
Ministry late in June. The base infrastructure included 196
buildings, among them seven staff structures, seven barracks, three
dining-rooms, a House of Officers, a hospital, two secondary schools,
a kindergarten and two clubs.
The Georgian side also received all real estate of the base. All
weapons and materiel were brought to the base in Gyumri and to Russia
in 2005-2007.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
