TRAIN WITH RUSSIAN ARMOR LEAVES MILITARY BASE IN GEORGIA

RIA Novosti, Russia
Aug 2 2007

MOSCOW, August 2 (RIA Novosti) – A train carrying military equipment
left a Russian base in Georgia early Thursday as part of a 2006 deal
to withdraw all Russian bases from the ex-Soviet Caucasus state,
a Russian military official said.

Colonel Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Ground Forces,
said the train was carrying two tanks, two armored personnel carriers,
and other military hardware from the 12th Russian military base in
Batumi on the Black Sea.

The official said another five trains and a truck convoy are scheduled
to remove part of the remaining military equipment from the Batumi
base to Russia and the 102nd base in Gyumri, Armenia, until the end
of the year.

Under an agreement between the former Soviet allies, Russia must
complete the removal of its base in Batumi by the end of 2008.

Russia completed the pullout of its military garrison from the Georgian
capital, Tbilisi, handing over control of its headquarters to Georgia’s
Defense Ministry last December, and formally handed over its military
base at Akhalkalaki in southern Georgia to Tbilisi in June, ahead of
the October 2007 deadline.