25th Brigade Redeployed to Tbilisi

President Saakashvili issued a decree on April 21 ordering redeployment of the 25th Brigade of the Georgian Defense Ministry from Adjarian capital Batumi to Tbilisi.

“The 25th Brigade will be temporarily based in Tbilisi. It will be composed of those officers and soldiers who refused to obey renegade former commander of the brigade, as well as by the conscripts,” Defense Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said at a news briefing on April 21. He added that a total staff of the brigade would be around 300 officers and soldiers.

“The servicemen of the Tbilisi-based 25th Brigade will have high salaries, but a bit less than soldiers that underwent Georgia Train-and-Equip Program,” Gela Bezhuashvili said. Servicemen trained by the U.S. military instructors receive USD 200 per month – the highest salary in Georgian army.

Defense officials say, up to 40 officers of the 25th Brigade refused to obey mutineer Maj. Gen. Roman Dumbadze, who pledged loyalty to the Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze.

“Approximately 10 officers still remain in Batumi at 25th Brigade,” Chief of Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces Givi Iukuridze said on April 21.

Georgia’s Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for Maj. Gen. Roman Dumbadze, who is charged with treason.