A convoy of trucks carrying military hardware and engineering equipment left the Akhalkalaki base in the south of the country for Gyumri (Armenia), the Georgian Defense Ministry said, adding it left Georgia through a border-crossing point on the Georgian-Armenian border in the Ninotsmindi district.
Under an agreement between the Georgian and Russian Defense Ministries, the Akhalkalaki base is to be completely evacuated before the end of the year, while its base in the Black Sea port of Batumi is to close before the end of 2008.
Russia completed the withdrawal of its military garrison from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, handing over control of its headquarters to Georgia's Defense Ministry, last December.
Thirteen of the garrison's 387 personnel remain in Georgia to oversee the withdrawal of Russia's two Soviet-era bases.
Georgia's Western-leaning leadership, which seeks to join NATO, is uneasy about Russia's continued military presence, and has repeatedly urged Moscow to close its Soviet-era bases.
