RUSSIA COMPLETES TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM GEORGIA

Xinhua, China

Nov 15 2007

MOSCOW, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) — Russia has completed the withdrawal of
its troops from Georgia, the commander-in-chief of Russia’s Ground
Forces Alexei Maslov said on Thursday.

"There are no Russian troops in Georgia any more," Maslov was quoted
by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

Only Russian peacekeepers deployed in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia
and South Ossetia are staying there under their respective mandates,
he added.

The last train carrying Russian personnel and equipment left the
base in Georgia’s Black Sea port city of Batumi to travel overnight
Thursday to a Russian military base in Armenia, Maslov said.

The pullout, which was scheduled for completion in late 2008, has
been completed ahead of schedule.

Russia inherited four military bases in Georgia from the former Soviet
Union following its breakup in the 1990s and had withdrawn from three
of them by June this year.