Russia withdrawing from Georgia according to plan - commander
08/06/2006 11:59
TBILISI, June 6 (RIA Novosti) - Another train with Russian military hardware from a Soviet-era military base in Georgia departed from the former Soviet republic according to plan, a senior Russian military officer said Thursday.
Major-General Andrei Popov, in command of the Russian troops in the South Caucasus, said the train had departed from the Black Sea base of Batumi. He added that the remaining equipment at the base could be removed by three trains, whereas 15 trains would be needed to withdraw the remaining hardware from a base in Akhalkalaki in southern Georgia.
"The equipment is being removed according to schedule and without any problems," Popov said.
Under an agreement Russia and Georgia signed March 31, Russian troops and hardware are to leave 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 Turkey, a NATO member, is to be completed by December 2006.
Trains carrying equipment from the Akhalkalaki base depart once a week from a railway station in Tsalka, 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of the base, Popov said.
The withdrawal is being monitored by a joint Georgian-Russian commission set up under the March agreement.
The bulk of Russia's weapons will return to Russia and the rest of it will be delivered to a Russia military base in Armenia.
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