TBILISI, July 28 (RIA Novosti, Marina Kvaratskhelia) - A railroad echelon of Russian military hardware left Georgia's Batumi military base (Adjaria) Thursday, the Georgian defense ministry said.
The railroad echelon will be relocated to the Russian side of the Great Caucasian Ridge. A representative of the Georgian defense ministry will accompany the Russian military equipment to the Georgian-Russian border.
Under the agreement signed by Moscow and Tbilisi on May 31, 2005, Russia will begin to pull out its armor from the Batumi military base in August 2005. A Russian naval ship will arrive in the port of Batumi for this purpose.
The Russian military requested that Georgia repair bridges in the region of Samtskhe-Dzhavakhetia (on the border with Armenia) to provide a safe withdrawal of armor from the Akhalkalaki military base as scheduled.
Earlier Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said only a part of armaments and equipment would be brought from Georgia into Russia's military base in Armenia to comply with the treaty on armed forces in Europe. He also said Russia would not hand over armaments to Armenia.
Under the May agreements signed between Moscow and Tbilisi, Russia will complete the closure of its two military bases in Georgia by 2008.
In 2006, Russia will withdraw its armor from Akhalkalaki (near the border with Armenia). Next year, the Akhalkalaki base will be closed. In 2008, Russia will pull out its armor from the Batumi base, after which the base will be closed.
