Aug 13 2005 3:12PM Russian military hardware loaded on ships near Batumi (Part 2)
MOSCOW. Aug 13 (Interfax) - The loading of heavy military hardware onboard Russia's Black Sea Fleet vessels near the Gonio military range, 8 kilometers from Batumi in Georgia, has been completed, Deputy Commander of the Russian military contingent in the South Caucasus Col. Vladimir Kuparadze told Interfax on Saturday.
The equipment is being withdrawn from the 12th Russian military base in Georgia.
"The loading of the hardware has been completed, and it is only necessary to finalize the customs documents to take the hardware out of Georgia to Russia," he said.
The major landing vessels, The Nikolai Filchenkov and The Azov, are expected to take to the sea for Novorossiisk at about 3:00 p.m., Moscow time.
All the 40 military vehicles being withdrawn from Georgia, including 20 T-72 tanks, 5 armored reconnaissance vehicles, 12 Kub air defense launchers, and 3 Shilka self-propelled anti-aircraft launchers, are onboard the ships, Kuparadze said.
The 12th and 62nd Russian military bases stationed in the Georgian cities of Batumi and Akhalkalaki are being closed down in line with agreements the Russian and Georgian foreign ministers concluded in May 2005.
The Russian military presence in Georgia should be terminated by the end of 2008.
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