The World - News from May 14, 1989

The first Soviet troops to leave Czechoslovakia as part of President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s planned cutback in Moscow’s forces in Eastern Europe over the next two years began their return home, Prague Radio reported. A seven-mile convoy from a motor transport battalion set off for the Soviet border from its base in the town of Olomouc, in eastern Czechoslovakia, the radio reported. More than 5,000 Soviet troops, 708 tanks and 20 combat aircraft are due to be withdrawn from Czechoslovakia. A similar pullout of Soviet troops from Hungary began last month.