WITHDRAWAL OF WEAPONRY FROM RUSSIAN BASE IN BATUMI TO RESUME
ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
May 15, 2007 Tuesday
The withdrawal of armaments, weaponry and property from the Russian
military base in the Georgian city of Batumi will resume on Tuesday,
Commander of the Russian Troops in the Transcaucasia Andrei Popov,
who is currently staying in Batumi, told Itar-Tass.
According to him, a train with weaponry, armaments and property from
this base will go from Batumi to Russia via Azerbaijan on Tuesday. In
2007, 11 trains will bring weaponry and property from the Batumi base
to Russia, and four trains – to Armenia to the Russian military base
in Gyumri. Popov noted that "all issues of the withdrawal process of
the Russian base from Batumi are agreed on with the Georgian side."
Under Russian-Georgian agreements the withdrawal of the Russian base
from Batumi, which began in 2005, will end before October 1, 2008.
The Russian base in Akhalkalaki will be closed before July 1, 2007.
The greater part of weaponry from this base has already been pulled
out from Georgia – some part to Russia and some part to Armenia in
2006. The last fifth convoy with weaponry will go to Gyumri on May
30. Two trains will bring some weaponry and property from the base
to Russia on May 17 and May 24.