As part of the U.S. post-war assistance to Georgia 74 Toyota Land Cruiser LC-78 off-road vehicles were transferred to the Georgian Interior Ministry on December 3.

The vehicles, worth USD 2.8 million, will be used by the Georgian police to deter organized criminal activity in remote, mountainous areas, “as well as in areas that suffered during the August 2008 conflict with Russia,” the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi said.

”[The handover of vehicles] is part of our post-war commitment to Georgia to help strengthen security and ensure that Georgia, in the future, has the ability to protect its citizens, within Georgia, and to provide conditions of security for the residents of those regions, who are most affected by conflict,” U.S. ambassador to Georgia, John Bass, said.

“We’ll be providing some additional vehicles that are still en-route, for the same purpose, and, again, this overall reflects our ongoing commitment to supporting the Georgian people, and to promoting Georgian sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he added.

Georgian Interior Minister, Vano Merabishvili, who thanked the U.S. for assistance, said that the new vehicles would help “to restore losses, which we have suffered in recent years.”

The U.S. embassy said that the transfer of vehicles was part of law enforcement cooperation between Georgia and the U.S. that also provides for police training, communications equipment, and the construction of police academy facilities for the Georgian police.