The last train carrying military hardware and property owned by units of the Group of Russian Troops in the Transcaucasia that are being withdrawn from the Tbilisi garrison has left for Armenia, the group’s deputy commander Col. Vladimir Kuparadze told the Interfax news agency on Thursday.

“The engineering equipment, communications vehicles and other property will be deployed on the premises of Russia’s 102nd military base in the Armenian town of Gyumri,” he said.

“Servicemen who arranged the departure of trains with property from Tbilisi are to leave for Russia’s 12th military base in Batumi on December 15. The operational group that replaced the command center of the Group of Russian Troops in the Transcaucasia headquarters will go there as well,” he said.

An agreement on pulling Russian forces out of two bases which both were scheduled to be fully closed by October 2008 was reached by Russia and Georgia last year.

Russian Defense Ministry decision to withdraw troops from Georgia ahead of schedule followed the rapid worsening of Russian-Georgian relations, as Tbilisi accused Moscow of supporting separatists, and Moscow feared Georgia was moving further out of its shadow toward the West.

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