TBILISI. Oct 8 (Interfax-AVN) - The command of the Russian troops group in the Trans-Caucasus has applied for the Georgian authorities for a permission to transport conscripts from the Armenian town of Gyumri to the town of Batumi in Georgia's Adzharian autonomous republic.
"The group's command sent a new application to the Georgian Defense Ministry on Tuesday asking for a permission to transport 130 conscripts to Batumi, where the 12th Russian military base is located," chief of the group's press service Colonel Alexander Lutskevich told Interfax-Military News Agency on Tuesday.
According to him, the first application was sent to the ministry yet on September 12, but no permission was granted. "The Georgian Defense Ministry said it was due to the ongoing anti- criminal operation in the Pankisi gorge that allegedly requires imposition of limitations on the movement of Russian military convoys on the Georgian territory," Lutskevich said.
"The Russian military base in Batumi cannot work properly due to lack of personnel that emerged after privates and sergeants with expired service terms were transferred to the reserve," Lutskevich stressed.
Meanwhile, the 130 conscripts who underwent a young fighter's training course, took the military oath and obtained Georgian visas, have been staying at the 102nd Russian military base in Armenia already for a month.