MOSCOW. Aug 8 (Interfax-AVN) - Support of everyday life in Russian military bases in Georgia is badly affected by their vague legal status, Major General Vyacheslav Borisov, commander of the 12th Russian base, said here on Thursday.
He told Interfax-Military News Agency that main problems complicating the life and combat training of the 12th military base in Batumi, Adzharian autonomous republic, were related "lack of a clear political status of Russian bases in Georgia."
Most of the supplies are delivered to the base by air, he said.
"Only food, a part of fuel and lubricants and money for paying allowances to officers and warrant officers are supplied more or less regularly. Other articles of expenditure are hardly financed at all, and we have to live and organize combat training by using old stocks, including outdated ammunition and military hardware," Borisov said.
In reply to a question, he noted that "the leadership of Adzharia and its president Aslan Abashidze, as well as local residents, treat Russian servicemen of our bases with sincere kindness and love."
"There is a simple explanation of that. When in the early 1990s the flames of ethnic war were burning high in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the peace in Adzharia was preserved by Russian troops. Adzharians remember and appreciate it," the general said.