MOSCOW. June 7 (Interfax-AVN) - A train with tanks and vehicles withdrawn from the 12th Russian military base in Georgia left Batumi at 0:20 a.m. Moscow time on Thursday, assistant to the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Ground Forces Co. Igor Konashenkov has told Interfax-AVN.
"The train has passed Khashauri station and is half way to the Georgian-Azerbaijani border," he said.
The trains are going to Russia via Azerbaijan under a military cargo transit agreement.
"The train consists of 35 platforms and carriages carrying five tanks, 44 motor vehicles as well as army stocks. The total weight of the cargo is almost 900 tonnes," the spokesman said.
It is the sixth train with the army property withdrawn from the Russian military bases in Batumi and Akhalkalaki this year. Konashenkov said 13 more trains are expected to leave Georgia this year. An army convoy will drive the remaining property of the base in Akhalkalaki to the Russian base in Gyumri, Armenia.
Under an agreement between Russia and Georgia the base in Akhalkalaki should be closed down this year and the base in Batumi next year.