Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Russia to Build 2 New Bases in Caucasus


Russia is transferring excessive ammunition and military hardware from the 12th Russian military base in Georgia's Batumi to the 102nd Russian military base in Armenia's Gyumri.
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Russia will withdraw from their two Georgian bases in Batumi and Akhalkalaki by 2008.
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In addition to the enhancing of the 102nd in Armenia, Russia plans to build two new bases in the Dagistan and Karacay-Circassian districts near to Chechnya.

Note:
The president of Georgia’s breakaway republic of Abkhazia, Sergei Bagapsh, told a Moscow news conference on Tuesday that Abkhazia would admit only Russian peacekeepers on its territory and that the withdrawal of Russian forces could lead to serious aggravation of the situation in the Caucasus.

The president of the unrecognized republic also said that the issue of “replacing the peacekeepers in Abkhazia with Ukrainians and NATO forces is being raised at the moment”.

“We do not intend to admit any but the Russian forces. Our position on this is unambiguous and precise.
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:Ka0NMG_g-jQJ:www.mosnews.com/news/2005/03/15/bagapshspeaks.shtm...

-Am



Russia to Build 2 New Bases in Caucasus
By Cihan News Agency
Published: Thursday 09, 2005
zaman.com


Russia has agreed to evacuate two military bases in Georgia and announced it will build two new bases in the Caucasus. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov claimed even though the two bases that will be built in the Dagistan and Karacay-Circassian districts near to Chechnya, they will not be involved in the region.

Speaking to the Russian Profile magazine, Ivanov said they will be building two Russian bases within 3.5 years. The new administration in Georgia gaining power with the velvet revolution acquired guarantees last week from Moscow over evacuating the bases in Akhalkalaki by 2007 and Batumi in 2008. Although Ivanov does not anticipate any difficulty evacuating the military equipment from the bases, an employment issue will rise for 2,500 personnel reaching 6,000 people with their families. The Russian Minister added that no decision to deploy heavy artillery in the Georgian bases has been made. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili formerly said his country would empower after the Russian disengagement, "Russian military existence in Georgian territories is now ending after 200 years."

http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&alt=&hn=20498